Who Are You Protecting

By Lucifiel

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Capcom, although a Chun-Li would be nice to have.

I'd do research on her thighs to see what makes them so large. I'd make millions and have little minions who ran around doing my bidding. I can see it now…"Get me Amazonian grapes!" "But Sir, there's no such thing as Amazonian grapes." "I don't care! Do what you have to, but those grapes must be mine!" "Yes Sir…uh, do you mind if we request Government funding in order to acquire your imaginary grapes?" "WEAKLING! Out of my sight!" "Yes Sir!!" What would be really funny is if there were such thing as Amazonian grapes and I just didn't know about them. I bet there are, and they're as big as basketballs. How much you want to bet someone drops a couple on my head as I walk under a building and I get a split personality like Detta Walker from Stephen King's The Drawing of the Three…that would be so amusing…

Sunlight bathed the pale figure who sat meditating beneath the trees. It caressed his long, golden hair; kissed his lidded eyes and tightly-closed lips. He sat cross-legged on his rock, face turned up to meet the sun. A light breeze blew his hair into his face, but he made no move to brush the strands aside.

Fifteen-year-old Ken Masters took a deep breath, centering himself, and proceeded to calm his mind. There had been a matter which had been bothering him for some time, and Gouken had advised the young boy to meditate about it, see what he could do to fix the problem and try to figure it out on his own.

He knew exactly what the problem was, but as to a solution, the boy had not a clue. Fortunate, then, that his meditation was interrupted by the problem pouncing on him and knocking him off his rock.

"Ken! Ken!! Come see what I found!!" Ryu shouted, tugging at Ken's gi, "It's amazing!"

Ken sighed, rubbing his head, "Ryu…what'd you find?"  He was curious. It wasn't often that Ryu got excited about something. Usually the boy was as focused and calm as the rock Ken had been sitting on prior to being tackled.

"Come on! It's a surprise!" Ryu took Ken's hand, ignoring his best friend's flushed features as he did so, and pulled the blonde after him. Ken let himself be led, his curiosity getting the better of him.

It took them the better part of the day to reach Ryu's surprise and by that time Ken was panting up a storm. They had climbed all the way to the top of the mountain range. Ryu was tired as well, but positively glowing. "It should be beautiful when the sun sets," The brunette breathed.

"When the sun sets??" Ken yelped, pulling his hand away from Ryu's, "The Sensei's going to kill us! You know we're supposed to be back before dark! It's going to take us forever to get back! What is with you today?!"

Ryu's bright smile faded a little, "I just thought it was a beautiful spot to watch the sun set, is all…I'm sorry if I get us in trouble, Ken."

His problem reared its ugly head at Ryu's expression. He loved his friend. Loved him…more than friends of the same gender should love one another. "No, I didn't mean to…ah, it's okay. It's the first time we've done it, after all. He'll probably just make us do extra push-ups, ne?"

Ken sighed in relief as Ryu's smile returned, "Right!" He took Ken's hand once more and led the blonde boy to a rock formation, then hopped on top of it, pulling Ken with him.

The sun was setting in brilliant colors of red, orange, pink, and yellow. Both Ryu and Ken gasped simultaneously, neither saying a thing, just enjoying the moment. Ken glanced over at Ryu, noting that his friend looked especially beautiful with the fading light of the sunset reflected in his dark eyes.

He could not stand it any longer. He had to tell him, even if it meant the loss of their friendship.

"Ryu."

"Hm?"

"Please don't hate me for saying this…" Ken blushed, looking away, "I…love you."

No response. Ken shifted his blue eyes over just a fraction, trying to gauge Ryu's reaction. His friend's face was blank. Ken winced and turned his back on Ryu, "Yeah, I figured that's what you'd say," He whispered, then slid off the rock structure and bolted into the forest.

He seemed to hear Ryu's voice calling him, but he wrote it off to his active imagination. Ryu hated him now, thought he was a freak. He was though, wasn't he? Loving his best friend…and then telling him! What was he thinking?

The blonde boy swiped at the saline tears dripping down his cheeks, sobs catching in his throat. He kept running until his bare foot struck a rock, sending him flying. He rolled down the mountain, bouncing off of rocks, trees, and the ground in general, uttering cries every now and then.

After what seemed like a lifetime of rolling down the mountain, he slammed into a red tree trunk and lay still. For a second, this seemed perfectly normal. After a moment, when he regained some of his senses and noticed that his left leg was broken, his body was covered in multiple slashes, and that he hurt, Ken realized that tree trunks weren't red.

He looked up, unable to make out who it was in the fading light. "Name yourself," He croaked, his blue eyes cloudy and unfocused.

"Akuma."

"Oh, hi," Ken though about that for another moment, then gasped and tried to stand, only to bite back a scream and topple over again, "Th-THAT Akuma??" He yelped, squinting to see 'Akuma's' face.

He wished he didn't have such good night vision. The face was horribly frightening, yet at the same time had an air of handsomeness to it. Ken shrunk back, terrified. Akuma could basically do anything he wanted to him at this point. Ken couldn't fight back in the condition he was in.

The face twisted into a smirk, as if the monster in front of him had been thinking the exact same thing. Ken found himself being lifted and carried in enormous arms. "H-hey! What do you think you're doing??? This is…this is so wrong!!"

"I'm aware."

Ken shrank back, chewing his lip. Akuma's voice contained a demonic quality to it. He found himself hoping that the monster didn't talk often.  Akuma carried him for another twenty minutes in silence, and then dumped the boy on the ground. Ken had to bite into his own arm to keep from crying out. "What the Hell do you think you're-get off!!"

Akuma had grabbed both of Ken's wrists in one hand. He dragged the blonde over to a gravestone of all things and threw him up against it, then tied his hands behind the tall marble Angel. He smirked again, showing sharp fangs. Ken hoped to God Akuma wasn't going to use those on him. "Be still," Akuma growled, and Ken obeyed without a thought. He didn't think refusing at this point would do any good anyway.

The monster then grabbed both of Ken's ankles and spread them, tying them apart so that Ken couldn't close his legs. Fuck, that hurt. His broken leg certainly didn't like the treatment. Ken blushed and squirmed, trying to get away. If Akuma was planning what Ken thought he was planning, then he needed to get away. Fast. Maybe yelling for help would work. This was a mountain, wasn't it? Things echoed.

He sucked in a lungful of air, preparing to yell, when a large hand clamped over his mouth and nose, cutting off the airflow. Ken struggled to free himself so that he could breathe, but Akuma didn't seem to want to let him.

Once Ken was sufficiently dizzy and unable to cry out, much less move, Akuma drew the hand away. Without the support, his head lolled to the side, his blue eyes slitted and glassy.

Once Akuma finished making sure the restraints were nice and tight, the monster loomed over Ken's prone figure, sizing him up. Ken hoped that was all he would do.

That thought was shattered as Akuma's rough lips were on his own, ravaging, sucking, pulling, kneading. Ken twisted in his bindings, but it was obvious he wasn't going to get free. Akuma kept right on raping his mouth, forcing Ken's jaw open so that he could slip his tongue in and plunder the boy further.

"KEN!"

Ken froze. Oh no…God, no…don't let him see me like this. Just go away, Ryu.

"What are you doing to him?!" His friend shouted, his dark eyes blazing red. Akuma turned, smirking, his eyes looking frighteningly similar.

"That's it," Akuma chuckled, "You're angry, aren't you? You love this boy. Would do anything to see him unharmed, wouldn't you?"

Ryu locked his blazing eyes with Ken's, "Yes, I love him. Let him go." Ken's jaw dropped, Ryu loved him??? What kind of shit was this? His friend hadn't said a thing when Ken had revealed his feelings. Maybe it was because he hadn't give Ryu enough time to think, and had just fled the scene without letting Ryu sort out his feelings. Maybe that really was Ryu calling to him as he ran. I am such a dumbass…

"Not until you do something for me," Akuma said, clenching a fist, "You have something hidden deep within you, Ryu. Can't you feel it? By tasting your little crush before you got a chance to, haven't I awakened something in you? Something dark? Don't you want to hurt me? Show me, Ryu…"

Ken's eyes widened, "The Dark Hadou," He whispered. Ryu heard him and glared, forcing the fire in his eyes back down.

Akuma growled and whirled on Ken, ripping off his shirt and sinking his fangs into his neck. "SILENCE!" Ken whimpered as Akuma jarred his broken leg for the thousandth time and bit his lip against the pain.

To be continued. Really. I swear.

Yeah, I felt like ending it here for some reason. Can't imagine why. I'll pick it up later, though.