Disclaimer: I do not own any characters represented in this story that are from Street Fighter. The characters, some places, and some terminology are owned by Capcom. If I did, I would have a TV that was so big it would take over the entire wall. And then I would play World of Warcraft on it. SWEET!
Chapter 12
"It's difficult to master at first, but you will get the hang of it eventually. I know you will. I have always said that someday…"
I cut him off "I will learn to manage my Ki, I got it." I didn't mean to sound frustrated, sometimes it just happens.
"I know it seems like a lot of work at first, but eventually you won't even have to go through these beginning motions to gather Ki, it will just come to you as you move."
He demonstrates to me again, the basics of gathering Ki. He extends his arms out horizontal, palms out, and then begins moving them in a wide but opposite circular pattern. I can see as he is doing this, blue orbs begin to gravitate towards his hands, and then disappear.
"You have to take the energy around you, because it's always there. And then you infuse it with yourself. When you gather enough, you move it to an area of your body you wish to use. The more you gather, the more powerful that attack will be."
He demonstrates by motioning his hands to his sides. A ball of blue flaming energy appears between his palms.
"Hadouken!" he yells, as he pushes the energy towards the sky, and the blue ball flies off into the air.
"Eventually, you will not have to take that long to gather Ki, unless you are trying to do an especially powerful attack."
He demonstrates again, gathering his Ki slowly, with the circular hand motions, and then gets ready.
"Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku!" he yells as he starts his hurricane kick, spinning with his leg extended. I can see the Ki through his entire leg through the revolutions. It leaves a blue trail as he spins. If this were a rave party, people on ecstasy would be totally mesmerized by this. I am not even on drugs and I am amazed every time.
"I know you have seen all these before, but another thing to remember, is if you gather Ki, you have to release it somehow. Even if you have to release it in the ground, you can't keep it inside you for too long. If you didn't, it would be forced out of you eventually. And it wouldn't be pretty. Think of it like… If you were struck by lightning. If you aren't properly grounded, then the electricity will take any exit it can, through your mouth, your nose, your ears, even your pores. So I can't just gather my Ki and then leave it alone, I have to release it somehow."
He does the hand motions again. I am sure he will show me the Dragon Punch now.
"Shoryuken!" he yells as he raises his fist in the air into a jumping uppercut, his hand in a blue fire. He does a 180 into the uppercut, and then 180 back to the ground.
"Ken is better at that. I will have him show you when we see him."
"We are going to see him? When?"
"It's a while off, a few weeks. It's almost time again."
"Ah yes, to visit the temple."
"Right. I am surprised you never went up there. I figured you would have since you followed me all that time."
"I somehow knew that it was a sacred place. I couldn't go there to watch you. I wouldn't have felt right about it. Plus I would have been very close to you, and I am sure you would have sensed me long before you finally did."
"I understand. It was probably best that way."
He stares at me for a long while. I wonder what he is thinking. I imagine he is revisiting those times when he went to the temple, in the past 3 years, possibly trying to remember anything about another presence. Do I still baffle him even today?
"It's your turn, Renee."
"Ok, what do you want me to try first."
"Well, first, I want to see if you can gather Ki. It took a while for me to get the hang of it, so I imagine you won't be getting it right the first few times."
So he doesn't think I can do this the first time. True, not many can mimic an ability after only seeing it once. I have gathered my Ki before but never as he has demonstrated, and the power of the attacks have hardly been impressive when I want them to be. Except maybe when I kicked Vega in the face. Hmmm….
"How do you think I did it before?"
He looks shocked I asked the question. "Which time?"
"I can only thing of one time that I was able to gather enough energy… When I did the Hurricane Kick, with Vega. Have I done it other times successfully?"
"Yes. You did. You don't remember?"
I tried to recall other times I have attempted to gather my Ki. "I can only think of one time before, but that was a pathetic little spark! I don't even think about that being any type of energy except static."
"There has been another time. It's the most I have seen out of anyone. I can barely do it myself on command."
I try to remember, but I don't recall any other time. "When?"
"When you were in my arms, dying."
My eyes widen and my jaw drops. "What did I do?"
"You surrounded yourself in energy. At first, it was electric, but then you somehow tuned into mine, and we were both surrounded by it. It then transformed into my energy."
"But, you have a blue flame. I saw you in blue flame. It was your aura!"
"In the end yes. But not at first. It was only you at first."
I try to remember again. I looked at his face. I started to shiver and convulse. He tells me to focus, and I see the blue light. Was it just surrounding me first?
"What did it do for me? How did I use the energy?"
"I don't know exactly. It might have kept you alive. It might have taken away the pain for some time. Maybe it protected your mind. Some healers are able to use their Ki to heal. Maybe it was like a defense mechanism, it wanted to protect you."
I place my hands on my stomach, rubbing my scars. I look down and turn my head to the side, and close my eyes. I fight tears from forming, my face showing my struggle.
Ryu walks to me, and places his hands over mine.
"You should not feel ashamed of what happened," he says to me, very sternly. "In fact, you shouldn't even be hiding yourself. If it is a reminder, then it should remind you of what you survived. It should remind you that you are strong, and you can be even stronger. If you always hide this," he lifts my shirt, revealing my stomach, and places his hand on my bare tummy, "then you will never feel confident that you will get stronger. Stop hiding behind it. Let it remind you."
I look up in his eyes. His face is stern and unrelenting. He removes his hand and takes a step back. He stands straight, and certain. He looks at me with confidence. I have to be… strong.
I am strong. My face now showing determination. I grab my long sleeve, V neck shirt from the bottom and pull it off, over my head. I throw it to the ground, and stand as undaunted and fearless as ever. I hold each hand in a tight fist at my sides, and raise my chin higher. And never taking my eyes off of Ryu. I stand, my scars in full view for anyone to see, in my navy blue sports bra, and my low riding pale blue banded, royal blue legged yoga pants. I tear does make it down my cheek, but not from sadness or fear. Not anymore.
"Are you ready to begin?"
"Yes, Sensei."
"You did well today," he says to me, as we sit next to each other by the fire, just finishing up from eating supper.
"It is harder than I thought."
"You have the potential though. Not everyone does. I think with time and practice you will be very good. Might even be able to beat me someday." He smirks and winks at me.
I smile at him. I scoot closer to him so our legs almost touch. He looks a little uncomfortable, like he doesn't know what to do. I feel him tense his body a little, like he is expecting me to attack him.
"I don't bite you know."
He chuckles. "I know."
"Why so tense?"
He looks up at the sky and closes his eyes. He takes in a deep breath. His tension seems to relax a little.
I touch his arm gently with my hand. I feel his huge, define muscles, and travel up his arm, lightly squeezing his bicep, then continuing on to his strong shoulder. He keeps his eyes close but lowers his head from looking at the sky.
With my other hand, I place it on the side of his face that I cant see, and gently force him to look in my direction. I caress his cheek with my thumb, but then move my hand down and touch his lips with my fingertips. Gently, I place my hand under his chin, holding it with just my index finger. I gesture by pulling slightly by the chin for him to move towards me. He complies, and leans in close to me, our faces millimeters apart.
I want him to make the first move. He taught me confidence today, and I want to do the same. I keep my distance from his lips but only slightly. I can feel the aura of his lips so close to mine. I can feel his breath as he exhales blowing on my skin. Still he sits, and he waits.
I stay in this position, holding his chin slightly with my finger, and move the hand on his shoulder down his arm, slowly, then to his forearm, caressing, and feeling the veins and muscles, and then finally stopping at his hand. I take his hand and raise it to my face, so he cups my cheek. I release his hand to see what he does.
He keeps his hand on my cheek, but moves his thumb, slowly down my face, next to my nose, and then over my chin. I open my mouth slightly. He caresses my bottom lip from left to right with his thumb.
I am almost losing my patience, because his touch is so soft and seducing that I want to give in to my own tease and kiss him. I let go of his chin to see if he backs away or stays. Or kisses me. I am hoping for a kiss.
His face stays where it is. He moves his thumb to caress my top lip as well, continuing to move it from my left side of my lips to the right and back again. He then moves his thumb back to my chin, but moves his fingers to feel down my jaw and then under my jaw, moving slowly to under my chin.
My breathing gets heavier with impatience. I try to tease him more by moving ever so slightly closer, his lips barely touching mine, both our mouths open, feeling each others hot breath. Is he testing my patience or am I testing his? I don't even know anymore. But soon I will lose this game…
Finally, as if I have been waiting my entire life, he gestures my chin close to him with his fingers, and softly kisses me. A hot electricity runs through my entire body. His lips are soft and smooth, and I want so much more, but I don't want to be forceful. I move my hand to brush his face with my fingers, feeling the lines in his jaw. I want to be gentle but I still want to progress in our kiss. Tenderly, I taste his lips with my tongue.
I feel as if I am on fire, and I want more. My entire body is tingling with desire. I wonder how far I want to take this, or how far I want to push him. As he starts to explore my lips with his own tongue, I feel myself wanting to explode. My core is burning, my soul like lightning. He has to stop and I can't tell him to stop. I want to tell him to keep going, I want to tell him to do more.
It's like he is reading my mind. He releases from our kiss, which seemed like it lasted for hours, and kisses the sides of my mouth. He takes his hands and cups my face, and then rests his forehead on my forehead. His breathing is still heavy but he is calming down. He leans in for a quick kiss to my lips and then releases me. He rolls down on his back, and places his hands on his stomach, looking up to the sky.
I look down at him. His face looks relaxed and his eyes look like he is in utopia. I gently roll down on my back, next to him and look up at the starry night as well. With our encounter fresh on my mind, I can't help but smile.
After a while, he gets his bedroll ready for a good nights sleep. And he didn't seem surprised that when I got mine, I rolled it out next to his, almost like two elderly people pushing their twin beds together. He didn't mind me snuggling up next to him, placing my head in that perfect nook on his shoulder, and my arm across his bare chest. He didn't mind my unbound hair draping down his shoulder and tickling his neck. And he didn't mind me falling asleep like that.
Note: I am such a sap…
