Ryu calmly observed everything that was around him, from the mixture of dirt and sawdust that was under his feet, to the crowd of spectators who were watching the match with quiet anticipation, to the nearly exhausted opponent who was standing too far away from Ryu to be able to attack effectively. His opponent relied far too much on lunging attacks and seemed to have nothing else to fall back on when his initial strikes failed to overwhelm Ryu. Now all Ryu was waiting for was his opponent to open himself up one last time so he could end the match.
In a last ditch effort the fighter made a blind rush toward Ryu, hoping to cover the distance between them before Ryu could counter-attack, which was just the opening Ryu was waiting for. With long practiced ease Ryu rested his weight on his extended leg and willed his strength into one point between his hands. Feeling the familiar swirl of energy pushing against his palms, Ryu aimed his hands at his opponent and braced himself as the pulse of power snapped off his hands.
Ryu's fireball smashed squarely into the chest of the charging fighter, sending him tumbling backwards into the dust. The previously quiet crowd now let out a scream of suppressed excitement at both the display of action and Ryu's victory. Dropping his hands, Ryu felt the remaining energy from his attack ripple back along his arms and chest as it slowly dissipated. For him it wasn't the admiration, the fame, or even the winning that mattered. Rather it was moments like this, when all of his training came together in one perfect display of skill that made Ryu's lifetime of work and sacrifice worthwhile.
##############
"Ryu! Hey Ryu, remember me?"
Ryu, who had been making his way through the remnants of the crowd that were still milling around at the end of the tournament day, stopped short as he looked at the person calling his name. He tried to identify the person who seemed to know him -a Japanese woman in her mid-twenties with hair past her shoulders- as she pushed past a pair of tourists in order to get next to him.
"Ah, Ryu, I'm glad I managed to find you, I was afraid you had already left for the day," she said. Looking at the expression on Ryu's face, she smiled slightly and said, "You don't recognize me, do you?"
"I'm sorry..."
"It has been awhile," she laughed. "Does this help?" she asked, pulling her hair back and out of sight with one hand while mussing her bangs into a scraggly mop with the other.
Ryu looked at the face for a second before his eyes grew wide with recognition. "Sakura Kasugano?"
###########
"I saw your fight today," Sakura said, waving to the dirt and sawdust ring in the center of the empty bleachers they were sitting on, "and you were great. It looks like you shouldn't have any trouble winning this tournament."
"That's what I thought too," Ryu admitted. "I should not of entered, the competition isn't offering me a challenge. But how have you-"
"Oh, but I'm glad you entered!" Sakura interrupted. "I haven't been to a fight in years, and when I heard this one was taking place so close to where I live I took a chance that you would be here and came to watch. Pretty lucky, huh?"
"I guess you're right," Ryu conceded. Ryu smiled to himself when he noticed that Sakura was still so headstrong that she could dominate a conversation without meaning to.
"So how are you doing in other tournaments? What are your latest winning statistics?"
"I don't pay attention to that sort of thing," Ryu said. "As long as the fight is worthwhile I'm content."
"Have you mastered any new techniques?" Sakura continued. "You were working on quite a few things the last time I last saw you."
"Um... I'm mostly concentrating on trying to perfect the ones I know. I've come to the conclusion that there will always be something new for me to learn. The path I'm on has no true end."
"Same old Ryu," Sakura grinned. "Ever since I had to stop fighting I've really lost touch with the Street Fighter world," Sakura said as she looked out at the thinning crowd of spectators. "I can't remember the last time I saw any of the people that I knew back when I was fighting. I still bump into that nice Akira girl once in awhile, but otherwise I pretty much lost track of that part of my life. "
"What have you been doing since then?" Ryu asked, grateful that the conversation had moved away from questions about him. "Didn't your dad want you to be a banker like he is?"
"He's a stock broker actually, but, yeah, he was hoping that either me or my brother were going to go into the same line of work. But the entrance exams for college were..." Sakura shook her head. "Anyway, I'm working at a health club right now. At least my family is a bit more supportive of that than they ever were when I was out getting into fights.
"It's nice to see that so little has changed since I left Street Fighting. The arenas look the same," Sakura continued, rapping her hand on the metal bleacher for emphasis, "the same sort of people come to watch the competition, you even look the same, just older."
"Er, thanks..."
"Sorry, what I mean is that you look more mature, that's all," Sakura corrected. "It looks good on you, honest. It's just that things have a way of changing so quickly that it's nice to see that some things stay the same."
"That's true, things can change without you even being aware of it." Was this the same bratty girl that used to ceaselessly chase after him?
Sighing happily, Sakura kicked off one of her sandals onto the bench in front of her in order to stretch her toes. Looking at the sporty sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing Ryu suddenly felt acutely aware of the tattered and stained gi he was wearing.
"I know I haven't been to a fight in ages," Sakura said, "but I expected to recognize a few more fighters than just you. Isn't your friend Ken even fighting anymore?"
"Ken still fights, but ever since his son was born he tries to limit the tournaments he competes in."
"Ken has a son? Wow. Ken was a nice enough guy, but he's the last person I thought of as becoming a family man," Sakura looked at Ryu with an expression he couldn't quite read. "Say, is there anyone in your life?"
"Same as it was before."
"Ah. Well, it's funny that all this talk about marriage has come up," Sakura said. Ryu had forgotten that she had the habit of looking away from someone's face when she felt self-conscious. "Y'see, I'm getting married pretty soon."
"Congratulations! That's good to hear."
"Thanks. I'm marrying a great guy named Daisuke Serizawa in about six months. I don't think you've met him. Anyway," Sakura, said, looking back at Ryu, "I expect you to be there."
"You can send the invitation to my mailbox, and I'll be there," Ryu started to dig through his duffel bag in search of a notebook. "Let me give you the address-"
"Is it still the address to that old dojo?" Ryu nodded. "Thanks but I still, um, well, I still have the address. I guess I knew at some point I would get in touch with you again."
While Ryu re-packed his bag, Sakura started talking again. "Anyway, it's good to see you're doing well Ryu..."
"Sakura?"
"Um, yes?"
"I'm sorry about what happened to you during that fight with Adon-"
"Ryu, thank you, but please don't," Sakura groaned. "It was a long time ago and it's not really that big of a deal. If I hadn't of been doing dumb things during that fight I wouldn't have ended up with those broken bones."
"Still," Ryu said, "I am sorry that it ended your fighting career."
"It really wasn't the injuries that made me quit," Sakura said as she stared out at the empty fighter's ring. "It's funny, but after I took that kick from Adon I can still remember what he said. I was on the ground with paramedics all around me, but I could still hear him. He was pacing around the fighting ring yelling about how it was disgusting that a fighter as weak as me was even allowed to enter a tournament. I don't think he meant to be cruel -he was yelling it more to himself than anything- but he was right. I was barely sixteen years old; I had no business being in that ring."
"That's not true Sakura," Ryu said. "You had quite a bit of potential."
"Potential was all I had. Without any sort of formal training, it ended up that I was trying to perfect my skills during actual matches. It was only a matter of time before something like that happened. The only training I received, if you could call it that, was from Dan Hibiki." Still looking out at the battleground, Sakura chuckled at the memory. "Do you remember that guy?"
"Was that the fighter who cried if you hit him too hard?"
"That's the one," Sakura laughed. "If that was the best I could do for a sensei... ah well."
"Still, it's too bad you weren't able to continue fighting," Ryu said.
Sakura shook her head. "But if I had continued fighting I wouldn't of met Daisuke or done any of the other things I've now had time to do. It hasn't been that bad really."
Sakura sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. "This is not what I came here to talk about. I didn't feel like working on wedding plans this afternoon so when I heard this tournament was in town I figured that you would be here, and... well, I just wanted see you again, that's all. I'm happy to see you're doing well."
As Ryu tried to think of an appropriate response, Sakura gave him a quick pat on the leg and said, "Listen, I need to get going. It took me a lot longer to get a hold of you today than I figured. Poor Daisuke is probably worried sick about me by now. Would you walk me to the train station?"
Ryu nodded mutely.
##########
On their way to the train station Sakura talked happily about how the wedding preparations were going, how much she hated her job but loved the people she worked with, and other things that had happened to her in the recent past.
At the terminal entrance, Ryu said, "Sakura, can I ask you a question? Why didn't you tell me when you got hurt or your decision to retire?"
Sakura looked at everything but Ryu's face. "Ah, heh, I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that I still have your dojo address. Here, let me put it this way. Do you remember when I said I didn't have anyone to train me? Instead of waiting for some would-be sensei like Dan to track me down I could of gone out and trained at a regular school like anyone else. I didn't do that because the only person who I wanted to train with was you."
"But I don't think I'm ready to take on a student now," Ryu said, "and I certainly wasn't at that point in my life."
"You finally convinced me of that which is why I quit pestering you," Sakura said. "Really, the whole reason I got interested in fighting in the first place was because I saw you fight and became star-struck. I realized that if you had tried to train me as well as working on your own skills you wouldn't of been able to dedicate yourself to the extent you have and I would of messed up what it was that had attracted me to Street Fighting in the first place." Finally looking at Ryu's face, Sakura continued, "That's why I didn't tell you about my decision to quit; I didn't want anything to interfere with your training, even something like me retiring."
Sakura smiled when she saw the look on Ryu's face. "I was a kid, remember? It seemed like the romantic, honorable thing to do at the time, although now that I look back on it I know I was overdoing it. Still, I'll bet things would of turned out a lot differently if I had been just a bit more persistent."
Sakura looked at up at Ryu for a moment as the emotions of what she was debating played across her face. She began to reach her hand out toward Ryu but stopped, gave a quick wave instead, and said, "Goodbye Ryu."
Ryu watched her hop up the train station steps and continued to look up at the station's entrance until he could no longer hear the sound of her sandals hitting the cement floor. Picking up his duffel bag, Ryu paused a moment to look at his hands. They were so calloused and worn from years of training that they were nearly as weathered as the leather hand guards he wore. In fact, his hands were so worn that he could barely feel the bag's cord digging into his palm. The only time he truly felt sensation in them anymore was during the heat of battle, when blood, excitement, and power ran through them. It was doubtful he could feel something as gentle as someone's hand in his own anymore. Adjusting the top of his old, frayed gi, Ryu looked up at the station entrance one last time as he left. As Ryu walked back toward the town where he was staying he thought about the choices he had made in his life and the choices he could of made.
In a last ditch effort the fighter made a blind rush toward Ryu, hoping to cover the distance between them before Ryu could counter-attack, which was just the opening Ryu was waiting for. With long practiced ease Ryu rested his weight on his extended leg and willed his strength into one point between his hands. Feeling the familiar swirl of energy pushing against his palms, Ryu aimed his hands at his opponent and braced himself as the pulse of power snapped off his hands.
Ryu's fireball smashed squarely into the chest of the charging fighter, sending him tumbling backwards into the dust. The previously quiet crowd now let out a scream of suppressed excitement at both the display of action and Ryu's victory. Dropping his hands, Ryu felt the remaining energy from his attack ripple back along his arms and chest as it slowly dissipated. For him it wasn't the admiration, the fame, or even the winning that mattered. Rather it was moments like this, when all of his training came together in one perfect display of skill that made Ryu's lifetime of work and sacrifice worthwhile.
##############
"Ryu! Hey Ryu, remember me?"
Ryu, who had been making his way through the remnants of the crowd that were still milling around at the end of the tournament day, stopped short as he looked at the person calling his name. He tried to identify the person who seemed to know him -a Japanese woman in her mid-twenties with hair past her shoulders- as she pushed past a pair of tourists in order to get next to him.
"Ah, Ryu, I'm glad I managed to find you, I was afraid you had already left for the day," she said. Looking at the expression on Ryu's face, she smiled slightly and said, "You don't recognize me, do you?"
"I'm sorry..."
"It has been awhile," she laughed. "Does this help?" she asked, pulling her hair back and out of sight with one hand while mussing her bangs into a scraggly mop with the other.
Ryu looked at the face for a second before his eyes grew wide with recognition. "Sakura Kasugano?"
###########
"I saw your fight today," Sakura said, waving to the dirt and sawdust ring in the center of the empty bleachers they were sitting on, "and you were great. It looks like you shouldn't have any trouble winning this tournament."
"That's what I thought too," Ryu admitted. "I should not of entered, the competition isn't offering me a challenge. But how have you-"
"Oh, but I'm glad you entered!" Sakura interrupted. "I haven't been to a fight in years, and when I heard this one was taking place so close to where I live I took a chance that you would be here and came to watch. Pretty lucky, huh?"
"I guess you're right," Ryu conceded. Ryu smiled to himself when he noticed that Sakura was still so headstrong that she could dominate a conversation without meaning to.
"So how are you doing in other tournaments? What are your latest winning statistics?"
"I don't pay attention to that sort of thing," Ryu said. "As long as the fight is worthwhile I'm content."
"Have you mastered any new techniques?" Sakura continued. "You were working on quite a few things the last time I last saw you."
"Um... I'm mostly concentrating on trying to perfect the ones I know. I've come to the conclusion that there will always be something new for me to learn. The path I'm on has no true end."
"Same old Ryu," Sakura grinned. "Ever since I had to stop fighting I've really lost touch with the Street Fighter world," Sakura said as she looked out at the thinning crowd of spectators. "I can't remember the last time I saw any of the people that I knew back when I was fighting. I still bump into that nice Akira girl once in awhile, but otherwise I pretty much lost track of that part of my life. "
"What have you been doing since then?" Ryu asked, grateful that the conversation had moved away from questions about him. "Didn't your dad want you to be a banker like he is?"
"He's a stock broker actually, but, yeah, he was hoping that either me or my brother were going to go into the same line of work. But the entrance exams for college were..." Sakura shook her head. "Anyway, I'm working at a health club right now. At least my family is a bit more supportive of that than they ever were when I was out getting into fights.
"It's nice to see that so little has changed since I left Street Fighting. The arenas look the same," Sakura continued, rapping her hand on the metal bleacher for emphasis, "the same sort of people come to watch the competition, you even look the same, just older."
"Er, thanks..."
"Sorry, what I mean is that you look more mature, that's all," Sakura corrected. "It looks good on you, honest. It's just that things have a way of changing so quickly that it's nice to see that some things stay the same."
"That's true, things can change without you even being aware of it." Was this the same bratty girl that used to ceaselessly chase after him?
Sighing happily, Sakura kicked off one of her sandals onto the bench in front of her in order to stretch her toes. Looking at the sporty sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing Ryu suddenly felt acutely aware of the tattered and stained gi he was wearing.
"I know I haven't been to a fight in ages," Sakura said, "but I expected to recognize a few more fighters than just you. Isn't your friend Ken even fighting anymore?"
"Ken still fights, but ever since his son was born he tries to limit the tournaments he competes in."
"Ken has a son? Wow. Ken was a nice enough guy, but he's the last person I thought of as becoming a family man," Sakura looked at Ryu with an expression he couldn't quite read. "Say, is there anyone in your life?"
"Same as it was before."
"Ah. Well, it's funny that all this talk about marriage has come up," Sakura said. Ryu had forgotten that she had the habit of looking away from someone's face when she felt self-conscious. "Y'see, I'm getting married pretty soon."
"Congratulations! That's good to hear."
"Thanks. I'm marrying a great guy named Daisuke Serizawa in about six months. I don't think you've met him. Anyway," Sakura, said, looking back at Ryu, "I expect you to be there."
"You can send the invitation to my mailbox, and I'll be there," Ryu started to dig through his duffel bag in search of a notebook. "Let me give you the address-"
"Is it still the address to that old dojo?" Ryu nodded. "Thanks but I still, um, well, I still have the address. I guess I knew at some point I would get in touch with you again."
While Ryu re-packed his bag, Sakura started talking again. "Anyway, it's good to see you're doing well Ryu..."
"Sakura?"
"Um, yes?"
"I'm sorry about what happened to you during that fight with Adon-"
"Ryu, thank you, but please don't," Sakura groaned. "It was a long time ago and it's not really that big of a deal. If I hadn't of been doing dumb things during that fight I wouldn't have ended up with those broken bones."
"Still," Ryu said, "I am sorry that it ended your fighting career."
"It really wasn't the injuries that made me quit," Sakura said as she stared out at the empty fighter's ring. "It's funny, but after I took that kick from Adon I can still remember what he said. I was on the ground with paramedics all around me, but I could still hear him. He was pacing around the fighting ring yelling about how it was disgusting that a fighter as weak as me was even allowed to enter a tournament. I don't think he meant to be cruel -he was yelling it more to himself than anything- but he was right. I was barely sixteen years old; I had no business being in that ring."
"That's not true Sakura," Ryu said. "You had quite a bit of potential."
"Potential was all I had. Without any sort of formal training, it ended up that I was trying to perfect my skills during actual matches. It was only a matter of time before something like that happened. The only training I received, if you could call it that, was from Dan Hibiki." Still looking out at the battleground, Sakura chuckled at the memory. "Do you remember that guy?"
"Was that the fighter who cried if you hit him too hard?"
"That's the one," Sakura laughed. "If that was the best I could do for a sensei... ah well."
"Still, it's too bad you weren't able to continue fighting," Ryu said.
Sakura shook her head. "But if I had continued fighting I wouldn't of met Daisuke or done any of the other things I've now had time to do. It hasn't been that bad really."
Sakura sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. "This is not what I came here to talk about. I didn't feel like working on wedding plans this afternoon so when I heard this tournament was in town I figured that you would be here, and... well, I just wanted see you again, that's all. I'm happy to see you're doing well."
As Ryu tried to think of an appropriate response, Sakura gave him a quick pat on the leg and said, "Listen, I need to get going. It took me a lot longer to get a hold of you today than I figured. Poor Daisuke is probably worried sick about me by now. Would you walk me to the train station?"
Ryu nodded mutely.
##########
On their way to the train station Sakura talked happily about how the wedding preparations were going, how much she hated her job but loved the people she worked with, and other things that had happened to her in the recent past.
At the terminal entrance, Ryu said, "Sakura, can I ask you a question? Why didn't you tell me when you got hurt or your decision to retire?"
Sakura looked at everything but Ryu's face. "Ah, heh, I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that I still have your dojo address. Here, let me put it this way. Do you remember when I said I didn't have anyone to train me? Instead of waiting for some would-be sensei like Dan to track me down I could of gone out and trained at a regular school like anyone else. I didn't do that because the only person who I wanted to train with was you."
"But I don't think I'm ready to take on a student now," Ryu said, "and I certainly wasn't at that point in my life."
"You finally convinced me of that which is why I quit pestering you," Sakura said. "Really, the whole reason I got interested in fighting in the first place was because I saw you fight and became star-struck. I realized that if you had tried to train me as well as working on your own skills you wouldn't of been able to dedicate yourself to the extent you have and I would of messed up what it was that had attracted me to Street Fighting in the first place." Finally looking at Ryu's face, Sakura continued, "That's why I didn't tell you about my decision to quit; I didn't want anything to interfere with your training, even something like me retiring."
Sakura smiled when she saw the look on Ryu's face. "I was a kid, remember? It seemed like the romantic, honorable thing to do at the time, although now that I look back on it I know I was overdoing it. Still, I'll bet things would of turned out a lot differently if I had been just a bit more persistent."
Sakura looked at up at Ryu for a moment as the emotions of what she was debating played across her face. She began to reach her hand out toward Ryu but stopped, gave a quick wave instead, and said, "Goodbye Ryu."
Ryu watched her hop up the train station steps and continued to look up at the station's entrance until he could no longer hear the sound of her sandals hitting the cement floor. Picking up his duffel bag, Ryu paused a moment to look at his hands. They were so calloused and worn from years of training that they were nearly as weathered as the leather hand guards he wore. In fact, his hands were so worn that he could barely feel the bag's cord digging into his palm. The only time he truly felt sensation in them anymore was during the heat of battle, when blood, excitement, and power ran through them. It was doubtful he could feel something as gentle as someone's hand in his own anymore. Adjusting the top of his old, frayed gi, Ryu looked up at the station entrance one last time as he left. As Ryu walked back toward the town where he was staying he thought about the choices he had made in his life and the choices he could of made.