Shifting gears, Guile scowled at the odometer, which was metric and twisted uncomfortably in his seat. "Goddamn Japanese cars. Fucking kilometers per hour and no space to move."

"With the exception of sumo wrestlers, I don't think they make Japanese people in your size, Guile," Chun Li said, rolling down her window. "And even then, I don't think sumo wrestlers drive."

He merely grunted by way of reply.

Letting the wind hit her face, she sighed and settled back in her seat. "The countryside is lovely, isn't it? So peaceful."

"Yeah," he said flatly. "Friggin' spectacular."

"Haven't you ever stopped to smell the roses?"

He wasn't even paying attention, muttering under his breath, "…stupid puny cars for stupid, puny people who drive on the wrong side of the puny stinkin' road…"

"You're a real joy to be around you know that?" Chun Li said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yep," he agreed. "A regular barrel of fucking monkeys." They drove in silence for a few miles. "So, you want to tell me what happened?" he finally asked.

Chun Li looked out the window again so he couldn't see her face. "Promise not to crash the car if I do?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Guile figured better leave well enough alone. For the time being anyway.

The scenery was becoming more and more rustic the further along they drove. Concrete gave way to gravel, then eventually dirt. Stopping the car, Guile stepped out and opened Chun Li's door for her.

"Why are we getting out here?"

"Bad news Princess," he said tossing her a backpack. "Hope you brought a pair of comfortable shoes, because we're going to have to hoof it for a stretch. Don't want Bison getting suspicious. With no cars around for miles, I think hearing one would blow our cover."

"Never thought of that," she mused. Guile shouldered a very large pack of his own and the two began the long trek into the mountains.

"I'm coming with you," she said defiantly, her eyes blazing, "and this is NOT up for negotiation, mister."

"Like hell you are!" Ken fumed as he threw a few things into his duffel bag. Zipping it shut, he added, "It's no place for a lady."

Eliza crossed her arms. "You forget, this lady's been there before."

"Yeah, in the summertime, when Ryu wasn't a fucking psycho," Ken reminded her pointedly. Throwing his hands in the air, he shouted, "Did you suddenly develop amnesia and forget that he just happened to nearly asphyxiate his girlfriend?"

"Well since I'm sleeping with you, I guess I'll be safe." Her voice dripped sarcasm.

"That is not the point and you know it," he said with exasperation.

"Then tell me, what is the point, Ken?"

"It's not safe," he said simply.

"You're going," she said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah and generally I can take care of myself."

"Ohhhh," she said with irritation. "So you can take care of yourself, but I can't take care of myself."

"Sweetie-"

"Don't 'sweetie' me!" she hissed. "So I get to sit on the sidelines and worry yet again. Heaven forbid if you let me come along so that I don't have to be so nervous, even if it means you have to worry a little more."

Stunned, Ken repeated, "You worry about me?"

"Of course, you idiot," she yelled, turning her back on him.

Walking over to her, he hugged her fondly. "How come you never told me?"

"What was I going to do, tell you that I worry about you when you fight? I know that's part of who you are, and I accept that I have to just tolerate my anxiety. I just wish," her voice began to shake, "that you could do the same thing for me." Tears ran down her face and she angrily brushed them away.

Ken felt terrible watching her cry. Turning her to face him he enfolded her in his arms and held her close to him. "Baby, why do you want to go with me?"

"This isn't like a tournament," she said, her voice muffled against his chest. "What's happening to Ryu, it's terrible, and I don't want the same thing to happen to you. At least if I'm with you, I'll know you're okay."

"Okay," he relented, "come with me, but don't go doing anything heroic that requires me saving you from the clutches of death." He stroked her arm soothingly as she quieted her sobs. "You really do love me, don't you?" His voice was pleasantly surprised.

"Against my better judgment," she sniffled.

"Well, I guess I better take advantage of that." He tilted her chin up. "Will you marry me?"

Eliza was dumbstruck. "What?"

Getting down on one knee, Ken shrugged and said, "Well, I was going to wait for a more romantic moment, but since you're all about making bad decisions, I figured I'd capitalize on the opportunity. Never know when you're going to come to your senses, right? Whaddya say?"

She threw her arms around him and laughed. "What took you so long?"

Ken shrugged again. "Ehn, I wanted to make sure you were in it for the long haul. I know I can be a pill sometimes."

Punching him on the shoulder by way of agreement, she answered, "If both of us get out of this alive, then the answer is yes."

"Good." He kissed her nose. "Time to rock and roll."

Still unconscious, Ryu lay sprawled on the floor. Watching with keen interest suspended from the rafters was an extremely eager Vega. "He's completely knocked out," he said gleefully into his earpiece. "I could gut him before he ever realized what was happening."

"No," Bison warned. "We need him alive."

Vega glared at Ryu. "I'll make him pay for breaking my nose."

"Just for a little while could you think about something other than how ridiculously in love with yourself you are?" Bison spat disgustedly. "There are more important things to tend to right now." He paused and continued, "But," a smile could be heard in his voice, "when he awakens, you will have your chance to exact vengeance. That should bring us closer to power of the Dark Hadou."

"Fine," Vega sniffed in a disappointed tone, "If I can't turn him into a pair of stockings, I'm returning." Slinking across the rafters with cat-like agility, he nimbly jumped out the window without making a sound.

"Stop, I need to rest!" Chun Li pleaded as she sat on a small boulder by the side of the footpath she and Guile had been walking for the last hour. It felt good to sit and she tried to catch her breath.

"It's going to be dark soon," Guile warned. "We have to keep moving."

"Just a few minutes," she begged.

"No can do, Chun." He scooped her up and swung her up on his shoulders. "How 'bout I give you a lift instead?" She rubbed his stubbly head affectionately and he scowled at the reminder that his hair had only started to grow back.

About a mile down, a small wooden shack, barely the size of a single room was visible, partially hidden among the trees and vines. Guile knelt down so Chun Li could dismount and removed his backpack. Opening the sliding door, Chun Li examined the rickety shanty. "A touch of paint, some curtains and this place will fix up nicely," she joked.

Guile slid the door shut and his bulky frame nearly filled the whole space. Outside the light was fading quickly and the thin paper covering the tiny windows turned orange, then purple. Opening his bag, Guile removed some bedding, a laptop, a pair of night vision goggles and a few bottles of water. Handing one to Chun Li, he smoothed some blankets on the floor and opened his computer. "Damn, there's no signal here." Deciding it was a waste of power, he turned it off. "Guess you're going to have to bunk with me tonight," he said apologetically.

Chun Li finished her water and put the empty bottle in a plastic bag. "That's fine. I'm exhausted from all that hiking anyway." Guile removed his boots and lay down. Patting the space next to him, he waited for her to settle in and covered her with a blanket. Yawning, she kissed his cheek. "Goodnight, Guile."

"Sleep tight, Beautiful." He waited until he heard her breathing even out and when he was certain she wasn't going to wake up, he pulled on his boots and grabbed his goggles. Quietly opening the door, he slipped out into the night.

Chun Li was dreaming and she saw herself wearing a blue and gold unitard, practicing her high kicks on a wooden frame.

"Every day the improvement in your skills exceeds expectation," a kindly voice remarked.

She bowed to the elderly man. His hair was entirely white, as was his long beard, his kindface wrinkled with the passage of time. Mostly blind, his irises were covered in a milky film, cataracts having claimed his vision long ago. He clapped his bony hands with approval.

Putting her fist into her palm and bowing her respects, she greeted him. "Gen, sifu, I was not expecting you today." A smile of pleasure graced her features. The old man had been a loving second father since her own father's death. He walked slowly to where she was standing. Chun Li grinned, thinking how the casual observer would assume that he was a defenseless grandpa, but she knew how in an instant he could martial his strength to become as deadly as the mantis that he mimicked.

"Come sit with me, child," he said, beckoning her to a bench. He sat down with a little difficulty, his joints creaking. "Oh, this wretched frail body of mine," he sighed contemptuously.

"Oh, sifu, I think you have held up remarkably well." Her smile gradually began to disappear as she noticed that he was unusually quiet. Not that he'd ever been much for words, but he seemed more reticent than was typical for him. "Sifu." She tried to squelch the growing alarm inside her. "What is it?"

He took her hand in his leathery ones and patted it. "I will be leaving you soon."

"What?" For a moment, she thought she had heard him incorrectly, but then she realized that she had known something was wrong for a while. She had simply done her best to ignore the feeling, telling herself that it was only his age catching up with him, but it was hard to ignore the fact that Gen had lost a great deal of weight in the last few months and she often caught him grimacing in pain when he thought she wasn't looking. "How long have you known," she asked quietly.

"For a little while now, a few months," he replied. Though he was blind and could not see her expression, he could feel her sadness and fear. "Leukemia, they say. I know you would have liked me to tell you sooner," he said understandingly, "but I did not want you to spend your last months with me weighted down with sadness. I am sorry, it was selfish of me, but I could not bear to see you that way."

Panic began to rise in her stomach. "Then you're telling me now because…"

"I am preparing myself for my departure from this world," he finished softly.

Tears flooded her eyes and she flung her arms around him, unwilling to believe that he too would be leaving her behind. He hugged her affectionately, but his body felt almost skeletal to her.

"No!" She shook her head and wiped her eyes, refusing to accept the news. "It's not too late! You can get treatment! There are medications, radiation therapies, even bone marrow transplants-"

He held up his hand to silence her. "I will not spend my remaining days on this earth a withered husk of a man, weakened by the ravages of both disease and medicines." He smiled sadly. "It is fitting that it is thus. - payment for the sins of a misspent and wayward youth. But I still have the ability to dictate the manner of my passing and I refuse to spend what time I have left waiting for the moment when death will claim me I will choose the hour of my death, and make my transition with my dignity intact."

Burying her face in her hands, her heartbroken sobs wracked her body. "Sifu, what will I do when you are gone? I will be all alone." Losing her father had been painful enough, but to lose another man who had become equally important to her was unbearable.

He patted her cheek in consolation. "I am old. You are young and in the flower of your youth, your entire life before you."

"I don't care! It's meaningless if you're gone," she wept.

"You will find new meaning, child. I promise you that." He held her to him as she cried. "One day you will meet a young man who will keep to your side and never leave you." Pulling himself away from her, he handed her a box wrapped in shiny red paper, tied with gold thread.

"What is it?" Chun Li asked, sniffling.

"Open it and see," he urged.

Untying the thread, the wrapping paper fell away and she opened the black lacquer box to reveal a large pair of black cuffs studded with stainless steel spikes. They looked a bit large for her slender wrists. "Sifu…"

"I had meant to give them to your father," he said with a sad smile, "but he vanished before I had the opportunity. They are yours now."

Chun Li looked into his unseeing eyes and hugged him once more. "Shyeh shyeh."

It was still dark in the early hours of the next morning. Chun Li watched the waves lapping the shore and finished stacking wood into a small boat. Arranging Gen's body reverently on the pyre, she bowed her last respects and lit the makeshift altar. Pushing the boat out to sea, she watched as the flames mounted higher, consuming the body of her beloved teacher. "Goodbye, sifu," she whispered. She maintained her vigil on the vanishing boat until flames had completely died away.

sifu: (Mandarin) teacher