A/N:This is an old story I cooked up a long time ago. It has been hanging around on my computer gathering dust and I never actually thought of posting it, but when I found it while digging through my files I thought: 'why the heck not?' So I salvaged it, straightened it out a bit and polished it up, and here it is. Just some 'friendly' banter between two characters. I hope you enjoy.

The old, decrepit bus rattled its way across the hole-filled dirt road and Ken Masters gritted his teeth. His backside was starting to hurt. Buses– and certainly ones like this – had never been his preferred method of transportation. A private jet was far more to his liking, but sometimes you just had to deal with whatever hand was dealt you. The small Japanese village he was heading for was far inland and had no airport. Or a convenient road, for that matter. Still, he had a certain interest in the village, one that made it worth a little (okay, a lot) of unease.

There supposedly lived a great martial arts master in the village he was heading to, one who presumably had his roots in the ancient arts of Ansatsuken; the same form of karate both he himself and Ryu practiced. The rumor had peaked his curiosity, and while he had come to Japan to visit Ryu first and foremost, afterwards he had decided to trek to this small town before heading back home to America. It seemed like a good idea at the time: he was visiting Japan, anyway, so why not travel to a picturesque, small town while he was at it?

Right now, he was beginning to wonder about the cleverness of his impromptu action.

Except for a young girl sitting next to him, a couple a few seats in front of him who were whispering to each other and an old man seated right behind the driver, the bus was empty. The young girl was headed for the same village that Ken was to visit her grandmother, but as far as he was concerned she was far too young to travel alone. The girl had chatted with him for a while before settling back and falling asleep.

He wished he could do the same. It had been a long trip already and it was a longer way still to the village; there was one last stop before the bus would start its long trek uphill to the rural town, so passing the time while sleeping seemed like a good prospect. Unfortunately, the constant bumping and shaking of the old vehicle made it close to impossible.

Somehow, he did manage to dose off eventually, eyes closed and head nodding, when the bus bumping to a halt woke him back up fully. He blearily rubbed at his face. They had arrived at the last stop before the village. Ken wasn't expecting the vehicle to pick up passengers this far into the middle-of-nowhere, but apparently there had been a person waiting, because the doors creaked open and someone stepped inside.

Ken glanced up and barely managed to stifle a groan. He recognized the woman instantly. In fact, she was hard to forget. She wasn't tall, but well-formed, with a muscular and lean body, her chest only covered by a small black-and-pink breastplate held together with straps. She wore baggy, white pants, her feet were bandaged with black tape and her long, black hair was twisted into two horns on the side of her head with rings. Her face was attractive until you looked at her eyes. Those were large, but glittered with a mad light. She was a South-Korean Taekwondo expert, Ken remembered, and her name was Juri Han.

Ken had seen Juri for the first time in the great World Warrior tournament a year ago, and even though he had never fought her himself, he had learned two things about her: one, she worked for Shadaloo or something like that, and two, she was crazy. She'd left an impression, no doubt about it, but he really didn't feel like dealing with her. Not after having sat in an old vehicle for hours and with all his bones hurting from the journey. He quickly looked away, hoping she wouldn't recognize him. No such luck. Her cruel gaze swept over the passengers in the bus and settled on him just as he was ducking away. Her face lit up in a gleeful smile.

She sashayed up the aisle as the bus started off again, stopping next to his seat and looking down at him. He recalled the rumors of her having an artificial eye, and up close he could see it; her left eye had a slightly glassy texture to it. It was perfect craftsmanship; the fact that it was manufactured was difficult to make out unless one knew what to look for.

The young girl, meanwhile, had woken up and was staring wide-eyed at the scary lady who had appeared next to her. Juri's mouth was moving in lazy circles, and it took Ken a moment to realize she was chewing bubblegum.

"Hey there, sweetie," she purred at him. "Fancy meeting you here. I didn't expect someone like you in a place like this." She leaned forward and rapped the girl on the head with the knuckles of her hand. "Beat it, kid. I want to sit here."

The girl, evidently seeing something in the Korean's gaze that she didn't like, bolted to her feet and hurtled herself to the front of the bus before Ken could stop her. She sat down behind the old man, both of them shooting frightened looks over their shoulders at the new arrival.

Ken clenched his jaw against a heated comment. As much as he wanted to give her a piece of his mind, he figured he should be careful. He had no idea how the volatile woman would react when angered, and even though he could defend himself, he wasn't so certain about the other passengers in the bus. He didn't want to endanger them.

Nevertheless, he couldn't let this pass. "That was completely unnecessary, you know that?" he told her angrily.

"Aww, are you mad at me?" Juri slapped a hand to her cheek in feigned shock. "You're not thinking about starting a fight, are you?"

"You'd better watch it, or I just might," Ken said, and meant it. He might have been forced to tread carefully – never his strong suit – but there was no way he was going to let some insane, vindictive woman get in the last word.

Juri lowered her hand, blinking at him, and then a slow smile appeared on her face. "Oooh, feisty. I like it!" Her tongue briefly licked her lips before she slid into the now empty seat next to him. "Say, you're the friend of that Japanese guy, right?" she asked him in a stage whisper. "You know…Whatshisname. Mister Snoozefest."

"Yeah, well, he goes by the name of 'Ryu' now," Ken remarked.

"So what's yours?"

He snorted. "Like I'm really going to tell you."

Juri pouted. "Why not?"

"Why not? No offense, but you're a murderous, sadistic psychopath," he replied, and winced. So much for treading carefully.

Juri, however, only laughed, an unfriendly, malicious sound. "Flattery will get you nowhere, sweetie." She stretched languidly, observing him from under half-closed eyelids. "Seriously, though. What's the harm in telling me? I mean, it's no use trying to keep it a secret. I can probably find your name in a database, anyway, whether you tell me or not." She smirked. "Especially considering the people I work for."

Ken grudgingly had to concede that she had a point. "Fine. It's Ken." Checking him up in a database or not, he sure as hell wasn't going to tell her his last name. "So what are you doing here, anyway?" he asked her. Seeing as there was no chance of getting rid of the woman anytime soon, he might as well try and drill her for information just as she was doing with him.

The Korean martial artist shrugged. "Oh, the usual stuff. An assassination attempt here, blowing up a bus there, you know how it goes."

It took a second before that last remark sank in and then Ken jerked around to stare at her. "You what?"

"Just kidding! Geez, high-strung much? You should have seen your face just now!" Juri burst out laughing.

Ken didn't think it particularly funny. He studied her warily. "If that's your idea of a joke you really have a problem, lady."

She rolled her eyes, chewed, and blew a bubble of gum at him. "Whatever. At least I know how to have fun."

Ken shook his head. "Yeah. Hilarious."

Juri didn't answer. Instead, she blew another bubble at him. It popped. There was a loud bang.

She blinked, staring at her deflated gum in surprise. Ken did so as well, until he noticed black smoke billowing up through the front window and he realized it had come from the engine block. A second later, the bus staggered to a stop. The driver turned around, apologized profusely, and went outside.

Juri groaned and slapped her forehead. "Ugh! You have got to be kidding me!"

She got to her feet and started up the aisle. Ken, not sure what she was going to do but having a strong sense of foreboding, followed her. The other passengers where murmuring amongst each other as Ken and Juri passed them. They seemed more than happy to remain in the vehicle, however.

The bus had stopped at the edge of a small ditch in the road, under a large tree. Heavy foliage on both sides made it difficult to judge where exactly they were, but there was no doubt it was deep into the countryside. The path was gently sloping upward, curving to the right until it was out of sight.

While Juri looked around with hands on hips and chewing her gum, but thankfully not doing much of anything else yet, Ken went over to the driver. The man, a thin, middle-aged fellow, had opened the hood of the bus, causing another big cloud of smoke to waft from the engine. He coughed, waving away the smoke, and leaned forward. He studied the inside of the bus with a critical, but resigned eye.

"What's wrong?" Ken asked him in Japanese. Having lived in Japan for years allowed him to speak the language fluently.

The man straightened and sadly shook his head. "I was afraid of this. It's completely busted. That's what you get with these old things." He shrugged at Ken, apologetic. "I'm sorry. I don't think I can fix it. Either you wait here until someone picks us up, or you walk to wherever you need to go."

Ken ran a hand through his hair, sighing. Not really the way he had intended to spend his afternoon. "Man…." He muttered.

There was the sound of footsteps and Juri appeared next to him. "What did he say?"

Ken regarded her. "You don't know Japanese?"

"Only the curse words." She stared at the bus driver. "Can he fix it?"

He didn't like the way Juri was looking at the man one bit. The Korean woman was growing bored; from what he recalled, that was a bad thing. "It's broken," he explained. "The driver doesn't think he can repair it."

"Well, perhaps he should try a little harder, then." Juri turned her full attention on the hapless driver. "Hey, you! Do you speak English?"

The man visibly shrunk back from her. "A….a little….," he stammered in broken English.

"Oh, that's okay. You only need to know a few words." A small, unpleasant smirk appeared on the woman's face. "Like 'hurry' and 'pain'. As in: 'if you don't hurry up with fixing this thing, you'll be in a lot of pain'. Get it?"

The man clearly got it, because he swallowed and paled.

"That's enough!" Ken moved forward, grabbing hold of her arm. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

She whirled, throwing a punch at his face with her free hand. It was a half-hearted attempt, but it startled Ken, who hadn't expected the attack. Still, he reacted fast enough to deflect the blow. He was late in avoiding her kick, however, and it hit him on the shin, causing him to hop back awkwardly.

It was like trying to hold onto some kind of savage animal. "Will you stop that?!" he snapped, and tightened his grip on her arm.

Juri winced. "You're hurting me." Then she smiled, licking her lips again. "Do it some more."

Disgusted, Ken shoved her away. The Korean woman jumped back, easily keeping her balance. "How's that for fun, huh?" she jeered. "Come on! Live a little!"

"Sorry, I'm not really into crazy women." Ken put up a cool front, but inwardly he was cursing. This was going nowhere fast. He wanted to move on and get to the village, but he wasn't willing to leave this woman with the people in the bus. Who knew what the lunatic would do? Not that he looked forward to having her around, but he was running out of options.

He made up his mind and threw up his hands. "You know what? All right! Fine! Have it your way!" He turned and started walking uphill. "Let's go."

Juri, who seemed to have been thoroughly enjoying herself, clearly hadn't expected this reaction. She stared at him. "Where are you going?" she called after him eventually.

"Well, I figured we might as we'll stop bothering these people and walk to our destination," he said over his shoulder. "Besides, it's obvious you're doing all this just to piss me off. Am I right?" She didn't respond, which told him enough. "Yeah, I thought so. So are you coming or not? I take it you need to head to the same place as me? It's not like there's much else to visit around here."

Juri still didn't answer. She had her eyes narrowed and was studying him. Ken hoped his gamble was going to pay off. If he could convince her to come with him….

After a couple of tense seconds, she started to giggle. She reached up and took the gum out of her mouth, pressing it against the hood of the bus with her thumb. The bus driver wisely didn't comment on that as Juri trotted over to the American martial artist.

They set out, following the road. Soon they left the bus behind them, losing sight of it altogether as they rounded the path's corner and the vehicle and its passengers became hidden by the dense growth of trees and plants. Ken judged it would be another hour before he would arrive at the village.

It was going to be a long one. As expected, Juri was getting increasingly restless as the minutes went by. As they moved closer to the village, she moved closer to Ken, until her arm brushed his.

"Isn't this romantic?" she whispered. "Just the two of us together."

"Oh sure, I can feel the love. Just walk over there, okay?" he told her irritably, gesturing a couple of steps to his left. It wasn't that she wasn't pretty, because she was (although not nearly as much as Eliza, of course. She would always be the only one for him). It was just that it made his skin crawl having her this close.

Juri raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I want you a safe distance away from me," he replied bluntly.

She rolled her eyes. "Yawn."

Nevertheless, she moved away, and they both walked in silence for a while. Finally, since Ken wasn't a quiet person by nature, he couldn't stop himself from commenting: "You still haven't told me why you're here."

She regarded him, smiling. "You want to know that badly? All right. I'm here on a mission to gather information."

Ken blinked and turned to her, surprised she was this upfront. "You work for Shadaloo, don't you? Isn't this supposed to be classified?"

"Yeah, but who cares about that?" Juri gave a dismissive wave with her hand. "Besides, I don't actually work for Shadaloo. I work for S.I.N. A side-branch, if you will. We specialize in information gathering, weapon development and on occasion….trash disposal."

He scowled at her. "You mean….?"

"Yes, that kind of trash disposal."Juri's eyes glittered dangerously. " Right now, I'm here to keep tabs on a particular martial artist. I'm supposed to observe him and to judge how powerful he is. And, well, to take care of him if he proves a potential threat to the organization. According to our intel, he would be somewhere around here."

Great. Just his luck. Apparently, she was meant to observe the martial arts master he was going to visit – kill him, even. Ken stopped walking. Juri did so too, giving him a quizzical look. He clenched his fists at his sides. "I'm not going to let you do this," he said firmly.

"Oh, please. Now you sound just like that kitten in her leotard. Or that China doll." Juri placed her hands on her hips, gesture not exactly hostile, but challenging nonetheless. "You sure you want to take me on here and now?"

"Pretty much." Ken took a fight stance. "I'm not about to let you simply waltz in there and kill some innocent guy just because he might prove a danger to you and your psycho friends."

Juri shifted her weight and he watched her carefully, intent on any aggressive move on her part. Ken was certain of his own abilities, but the woman was rumored to be a very powerful warrior as well….

Now the Korean martial artist tilted her head, expression unreadable. Then she laughed. It was a surprisingly warm sound, a far cry from her usually malicious cackle. "I like you, Ken Masters! You're amusing!" Juri tapped her chin, thinking. "You know what?" she said. "I'll let you off the hook this time. I'd love to fight you some other day, but not now. The entire trip was a total pain in the ass already, and I don't really feel up to it."

This was not what he had anticipated. Ken gaped at her, unsure of what to say. "Huh?" was his intelligent reply.

Juri shrugged, gave a theatrical sigh. "I know, right? I'm just not in the mood anymore. You can run over to that village of yours for all I care. I'll head back to S.I.N. Tell them this guy isn't worth the time." She leaned forward, her gaze settling on his. A slight smirk formed on her lips. "You should be lucky I happened to enjoy our time together," she said in a hushed tone. "'Till next time, baby."

With that she abruptly turned away, walking past him. Ken could have attacked her if he had wanted to. He doubted she would expect it. But he didn't. Instead he watched her descend the path, kept watching until the black-haired woman was out of sight.

It was only then that he realized she had called him by his last name, even though he had specifically refrained from giving it to her. Evidently she had known much more about him than she had let on. That fact was more than a little unsettling. It made him wonder if he had just passed some sort of bizarre test.

And it made him wonder who the real target had been.