It is a hot summer night, as the Masters' family is still practicing their martial arts for their upcoming karate classes. The red dragon known as Ken Masters is currently helping his children spar with each other in his family dojo.
"Hi, ha, hyah!" Says two children while mimicking their dad's movements. It seems that Jake and Meixiu (or Mei as she would like to be called) was getting exhausted seeing as they've been practicing for hours. Seeing as they're just children, their bodies can't seem to endure much longer and they look like they're about to faint.
"Dad, can we stop now? Our feet are getting tired." Says Jake with fatigue laced in his voice while Mei says, "Yeah, I wanna eat something before I go to bed. Where's mommy and is she coming home soon?" The young girl says with the same attitude as her older brother.
Jake Masters is a hyper seven-year old who strives to be just like his dad since he's known internationally as the United States martial arts champion, he has sandy blonde hair, seafoam green eyes and is pretty much a spitting image of his father. He's athletic, a prankster and even inherits his dad's cockiness from time to time.
The young girl is known as Meixiu Masters. A cute five-year old who's personality can be described as calm and collected seeing as she inherits a majority of her personality with a bit of spunk from her mother, she has brunette shoulder-length hair wrapped in a braid, seafoam green eyes just like her brother and father and is pretty much a younger version of her mother. The two kids had inherited their father's Japanese and American heritages while they also inherited their mother's Chinese heritage.
Ken looks at them and sees that they've officially reached their limit and has an apologetic look on his face, "Oops, sorry kids. I forgot that you're not teenagers yet so you won't be able to endure this much training. Ok, time to eat then homework time."
The two kids sighed at what their dad just said, 'Why does he get so excited about homework?' They did just finish practicing their martial arts so they wanted to rest their minds and bodies for just a bit.
"Dad, do we really have to do homework? I just want to eat and watch TV." Jake asked, he was really hoping for his dad would tell them they could have a break.
"Yeah, and it's Friday, we have the whole weekend to do it," Mei asked and even emphasized her point when she went in front of him and pouted cutely while showing puppy dog eyes.
Ken had a choice to make, it was either tell them that they can do their homework now or suffer the wrath of his wife when she got home. With a sigh, he decided that they already worked a lot seeing that they already did well in school. It seems that they reminded him of himself when he was their age. Now that he thought about it, was that a good thing?
"Ok, you can do your homework later but you better make sure your mom doesn't flip out when she hears you didn't do it."
As soon as they heard later, everything else blanked out in their minds while they both said, "Yay!"
"Alright kiddies, calm down! I'm only doing this every once in a while so next time that isn't gonna work on me." Ken was shaking his head at what he did. It seems that his kids really did possess a bit of his personality.
"Alright, so what do you want to eat?"
The two children thought about what they were trying to eat. After some time thinking, they finally decided on something that everybody could eat without a problem. Mei whispered in Jake's ear for what they wanted to eat and he nodded his head in agreement. They looked towards their father to tell him.
With an enthusiastic smile on their face, they told him what they wanted, "We want pizza!"
"Pizza? You guys have access to ethnic cuisine from around the world and you're telling me you want pizza?"
"Yes! Pizza, pizza, pizza!" They jumped around to emphasize their desire for the doughy food.
With a shake of his head, he told them to calm down while he ordered the pizza for them to munch on. His kids were something else at times he thought, maybe that's why he spoiled them a bit more than Chun-Li did. If it was up to her, she would've made them a meal that was delicious and healthy at the same time instead of consuming fatty foods all the time.
Seeing that T.V. time was important to them in their family, they sat and watched so many movies that by the time it was 11 p.m., the children were exhausted and it actually put a smile on his face. Ken loved his children and loved the woman he made them with. Their faces looked so innocent that he thought nothing could taint them at the moment. They were laid out across the big couch with pizza crumbs plastered around their mouths while murmuring in their sleep.
Seeing that his children were tired he wiped their mouths, picked them up from their resting positions and carried them to their respective rooms. He would ask them to take shower seeing that they still had their grime of sweat from training and that they did eat greasy foods but decided that he didn't want to wake them up and they could do it on their morning.
"Good night kids." He kissed the both of them on their forehands and left them to their sleep.
The thing for Ken and Chun-Li was that even though parenthood was a tedious and daunting challenge to them at times, they learned how to adapt it into their daily life. As all children, they did become a bit to handle at times; probably because of the personalities they inherited from their parents. It was like taking care of a younger version of themselves which was strange but worth it.
With his spouse still not home, he thought of many things he could do until she did. Ken didn't practice martial arts as much as he wanted to due to his high ranking position in the company that he inherited from his father, the time that consumed him in managing the position and the overseeing of his company's flourishing. And with barely any time to maintain his skills, it also meant no tournaments, no sparring and no time to go to a conditioning gym or anything of the sort.
So with that, when he purchased his home before his children were born, he constructed a dojo for himself and for his wife seeing that she was also a martial artist herself. During weekends when he could temporarily get away from work until the next time, he would practice honing his skills that made him United States champion in the first place. As he did almost every weekend, he headed to the dojo to practice just for old time's sake and because he always had a deep admiration for the Ansatsuken art that his teacher bestowed upon him and Ryu before letting them go to forge their own paths and become men.
What exactly was Ryu doing right now?
Ken of course knew the answer to that question but nonetheless a question that he subconsciously asked almost every time he trained. Could he be getting stronger, learning a new way to craft his art, could he have started a family himself and not know it? Too many questions went through his head but he didn't know the answers to them seeing that Ryu was a very unorthodox person when it came to trying to pinpoint his whereabouts, it's like he was on the move every time. Well, Ryu is a man and knowing him, he'd make an unexpected visit to the United States to visit his godchildren, they always did ask Ken when he would visit seeing that there was somebody who could beat him in a sparring match.
As the hours went by, Ken did his usual practice with in his dojo. Practicing hurricane kicks and shoryukens were always his specialty, especially the kicks. As much as he liked hadokens, the couldn't be used in tournaments seeing that it would be unfair to use against martial artists and it would probably cause a lot of issues throughout the fighting network, also to add it would have probably caused him his championship. With his agile movements in the air or to his sandbags/dummies and the sweat that was running down his forehead, he felt that rush he would get before he was going to fight. This rush had his heart pumping and he really admired it seeing that it could determine if he was still as good as he was before adulthood kicked in. This was who Ken Masters was, not some regular stuffy business suit that he had to use to ensure deals with companies were going through. No, he was the flaming red dragon that always had this fire that would never go out as long as he lived.
As it was almost one in the morning, an SUV pulled up in the driveway and parked in the garage as soon as it opened. Once it was parked, a woman wearing office clothes and had long, flowing brunette hair came out of the vehicle. Chun-Li Xiang-Masters stretched her body seeing that her detective work took the most out of her as it usually did. Looking for criminals and investigating case upon case really took a lot out of her seeing that it took a lot of time from her and away from her family. Even though it did take time from her, she figured that if she could get as many criminals as she could, she could make the streets a bit safer for the people, especially her children, they were always the ones she would think of when she did her job. Every time Chun-Li saw her kids playing around, it always motivated to be the best person she could be, especially being the best mother that she could be. Seeing that she lost her father when she was younger, she made it her purpose to be there for her children no matter how far apart they would be.
As Chun-Li entered the house, she wondered how her family was doing right now, "Hopefully the kids are asleep, and they shouldn't even be awake right now." When she went into the house, she saw that no one was in the kitchen or the living room.
Seeing that her family wasn't around, she went to the one place that she definitely knew where her husband would be at this time during a Friday night.
Still practicing on his sandbags, Ken wondered about his daily life as a corporate leader and his life as a martial artist. He felt that it was unbalanced due to one life overshadowing the other which made him contemplate his skills, even though he knew he still had that spark, he didn't want to just let it go like that. It was the reason he started to introduce his children to the world of martial arts at a younger age than when he did. One thing he made sure was not to push them too hard, he didn't want to live vicariously through them because they didn't deserve that. They were children which he wanted to treat them as such and let them forge their own lives as he did when he was a child. Besides, who knows if they might even become martial artists just like their parents?
As he was practicing, Chun-Li quietly took a look inside the dojo and saw Ken practicing shirtless with the sweat pouring down his body, she always loved the sight of it and it always made her grateful that she was married to him.
"You know, if you're going to train shirtless, at least make sure that door isn't spread open like that. I might get jealous if other women start to take a look at my man." Chun-Li said from the dojo entrance.
Turning around, Ken saw her right there in her office attire and went up to her with a hug and kissed her.
"First of all, I highly doubt that would happen seeing that we have a lot of security and you wouldn't be able to say that at the beach since being shirtless is the point." He kissed her again which made her wrap her arms around him.
After the kiss, he put his head on top of hers. "But welcome home though, I know you're tired from all this detective stuff. You need a break or at least take an off day."
Putting her head to his chest, Chun-Li began to respond to that, "Even though that would be nice, I like working and I love supporting my family, thank you very much for the offer though."
They both left the dojo closing it and Ken surprised Chun-Li by lifting her up bridal style and walked towards the entrance of the living room, "You know I can support this family by myself Chunster, take a break if you need to."
"No," she said defiantly. "I refuse to be part of that typical Asian wife stereotype which involves staying at home and just doing nothing. I love you, our children and my life right now but I'm not taking a break when I have so much to do at the office. So basically no, I'm not taking a break."
He started grinning when he heard that, "Well, I guess you're going to stick with your decision and I can accept that. Your strong-willed nature is one of the reasons I married you, I like somebody who can disagree with me at times without giving it too much thought which you do on a daily basis. In all honesty, I do wish you were home at times, even the kids ask for when you're coming home."
She kissed him before speaking, "I wish I could but I want to be a woman who can provide for her family without anyone criticizing my actions."
As he took both himself and Chun-Li to the bedroom, he placed her on the bed letting her relax for a bit before he started massaging her feet. Even if she was one of the most powerful leg-based martial artists, he could tell that she was tired from today.
"I see you're letting your hair down this time, no buns this time?" He said while tangling his fingers through her hazelnut hair.
"I did seeing that they're part of my office attire and they're called ox horns, thank you very much. I just decided to let it all down seeing that it was a bit humid today and sweat and I don't really mix together."
As Chun-Li had her hair down, Ken eyed her as she was changing out of her work clothes into her sleeping attire and as he saw her body, he was pretty damn amazed that he was able to marry somebody like her. With so much other men, she could've went with anybody but she ultimately chose him to spend her life with. The ultimate prize and surprise to him was that Chun-Li wanted to start a family with him and care for them as much as her parents cared for her when she was younger.
At least he knew she wasn't with him for his last name or his family's industrial wealth, she just wanted to be with him for him. Besides, they went through so much in the past that money was one of the least problems to be worried about when there were crime syndicates and dictators out there.
"You should keep your hair down more Li, I prefer you keep it like that and that you're kind of making me jealous that I don't even have my flowing locks anymore."
After changing into her clothes for the night and putting them away, she turned around to respond to him while also chuckling.
"Well, I never did tell you to cut your hair off, didn't I? Besides, you look just as handsome as you did with your hair so don't worry too much about that."
He laughed at that, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Be right back, I just need to freshen up in the bathroom and I'll be in bed soon, okay?"
Ken waved his hand to indicate that he heard her. As she went to freshen up, he laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He wondered what the future would entail for him, with life as a father, husband, and martial artist; as much as he would like to know what would happen, he would just let time take its natural pace.
"I'm done and boy am I tired," Chun-Li went to the bed and pulled the covers to herself. She caught Ken looking into the ceiling making it seem like there was something there but nothing was there at all. She decided to catch him off guard by turning his head towards her and she kissed him differently than the other kisses they shared once she got home. A kiss that looked lustful yet controlled at the same time. Seeing that her husband was wrapping her arms around her she knew he got his attention.
"Do I have your attention now Mr. Masters?" She asked with a lashing of her eyes.
"You had my attention as soon as you kissed me like that Mrs. Masters." He responded with a cheeky grin.
Now finally getting his attention, she snuggled up to him.
"So how were the kids today?" She asked him almost every time when she got home seeing that she wasn't there at times due to her work.
"Ya know, martial arts practicing as usual, watched some T.V. and ate some pizza."
With a sigh, she put a hand to her forehead, "Ken, what did I say about giving them pizza like that? They're still growing kids so they need balanced meals. We even have chefs that could cook them food in case you forgot."
"Hey, I tried giving them a choice for food and they wanted pizza without a second thought. But what can you do, they're kids."
"That still shouldn't be enough of a reason for them not to eat proper foods. I may have to start being here just to make sure they have real food in their stomach. Did they at least do their homework?"
"Well…" Ken scratched his cheek while trying to answer.
"Ken, really? That should be done before they even have time for T.V. Sometimes I really see your genes in our children which is exciting yet scary at the same time. Tomorrow, they're doing their homework and I don't want to hear anything else."
"Don't worry, they even said they're gonna do it tomorrow but let's give them a break for today. They're hardworking kids already as it is and you know that." Ken said this while bringing her body towards his.
"Yes, I know. I just don't want them to fail or anything. Sometimes life is just unexpected and you never know what might happen. I'm just being precautious like a parent should."
"Understandable but kids have to be kids sometimes. Anyway, let's go to sleep." As soon as their eyes were about to close, both of them heard a knock from outside their door and wondered who that could've been.
Ken was about to get up but the door opened and it was their daughter Mei standing right there with a drowsy look on her face wiping her eyes.
"Daddy, is Mommy home?" Her voiced was laced with drowsiness while walking towards her parents' bed.
"Yes sweetie, I'm right here." She patted her bed to indicate that she was indeed there in the room.
Mei went to her mother's side of the bed and climbed on top of the bed. When she reached the top, Chun-Li hugged her and kissed her on her forehead. She really did miss her little angel and was really happy to see her even though she should be sleeping right now.
"Hey sweetie, why are you up?" Chun-Li asked in a soft voice.
"Uh, I had a nightmare just now," she said in a timid and quiet voice.
Chun-Li brought her to the gap between hers and Ken's bodies to give the little girl some space so she could elaborate on her recent night terror.
"Aww sweetheart, why don't you tell me what your nightmare was about?"
She took a deep breath before speaking, "It was about you not being there in my dream and I was there in the dark, and I couldn't find you or dad or Jake anywhere. It was really scary because I didn't have anybody there to watch me or look out for me and it's…really scary."
Mei let some tears out and both her parents came closer to her so they could form a warm hug that could somehow quell her sorrows and calm their little girl. They didn't like seeing any of their kids sad or angry.
Ken started to speak first, "Mei, nobody's gonna leave you alone and we would make sure nothing happens to you. Got that?"
Then Chun-Li spoke up, "Yes, my little flower. There's no reason why you should ever feel like that. Your father, Jake and I will always be there to protect you from any harm that comes your way. I love you so much Meixiu, I would never allow anything to happen to you without it going through I first. So wipe your tears sweetie, ok?"
Hearing her mother's words, Mei smiled and wiped her eyes and her mother hugged her really tight to ensure the words that were just spoken to her. Whenever her mother particularly hugged her, she always felt safe in her arms. Especially that she was called "The Strongest Woman in the World" by many other prominent martial arts practitioners, her father included.
"Thanks mommy," Mei said while hugging and kissing her on the cheek.
"Alright, now your father will escort you back to bed. Come on, time to go to sleep and no more nightmares, ok?"
She simply nodded as her response.
Ken then got up from the bed and carried Mei outside of the room and took the little girl back to her room. Once he came back, he got back under the covers and pulled Chun-Li to him kissing the top of her head. She giggled and put her head to his chest.
"I can see why I married you now," spoke Ken with his eyes closed ready to sleep.
"And why is that?" She inquired.
"Simple, you're much better with kids than I am when I'm alone with them. I love them but they can be a hassle at times."
Before she was ready to sleep, Chun-Li had one more question on her mind. "Ken?"
"Huh? What?"
"Do you ever think about what it would be like if we didn't get married?"
Ken thought about it, "Yeah, I do. I wouldn't be with you and our two beautiful kids wouldn't exist. Chun-Li, you and the kids are my world and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world, I put my life on it. I love you too damn much to let you go, you're my wife and the most beautiful woman I've ever met. Don't let my mom hear that though, she'll pinch my ears like no tomorrow." She laughed at that.
"The point is I'm happy and you should be happy too, especially with all that you've been through in the past." He gave her a kiss on her forehead and then to her lips to which she closed her eyes.
"Thank you Ken, it feels really nice when you talk like that. Good night my dragon." She then went into a deep sleep.
He then chuckled, "Good night my lovely flower." He then proceeded to go to sleep himself.
I just decided to do a pairing on one that's not really done. With two powerful fighters as parents, Mei's and Jake's potential lie untapped and it's up to them to reach into themselves and discover what it may be.
As I said, I will post a question: What is your opinion on Ultra Street Fighter 4 coming out? Are you excited for the new mechanics coming out? Any of the new characters you're excited about?
Another question, seeing as both Ken and Chun-Li's are mixed. Are you mixed, if you want to, tell me what you are because what I've learned is that everybody has something in them, regardless of where they come from.
I hoped you enjoy this story. Until next time fellow readers.