I never did enjoy writing a diary.

There are too many things going through my head at any given moment to know where to begin. Yet and still, I must write down my feelings about everything that is going on. Seeing as this is my first entry, I may as well make it a profound one. Then again, there might be something even deeper along the way as I search myself, so this may not be my most poignant moment.

To begin, my name is Karin Kanzuki, and I am the current chief stockholder for the Kanzuki Zaibatsu. I have been with a man known only as Ryu and his student, Sakura Kasugano, for the past month and seven days now, and it has been an intense and gratifying experience. I never thought I would put those two words together before now about a single period of time, but there you have it.

For this brief moment in time, I am age twenty-three, the period of life in which one begins to shape their own destiny, having already started school or work, gotten their driver's license. Considering that this only happens once every year, I suppose I am Sakura's senior. With that said, I am nowhere near at her level of fighting. Over time, she has become more than just a rival to me, and in that respect, I have much to thank her for.

But first and foremost, she is my brick wall that I have to smash through; my one example of how I should fight, perhaps even live. This diary will probably show little about me, but much about my friend and the man who has taken her under his tutelage. With that said, here goes nothing…

-Excerpt from the diary of Karin Kanzuki

Kanto the Slayer presents

A Street Fighter Fanfiction

Beyond Alpha

Atop the roof of the castle, the sounds of a battle being waged could be heard. Two figures in white karate uniforms struggled for position and advantage, attempting to gain a proper point of reference for an appropriate strike.

Both were staring intently at each other as they attempted to get inside the other's guard. The woman quickly grew bored of this waiting game and threw a jab towards the man's jaw, which he subsequently blocked. She retreated and threw the jab again, combined with another from the same side. They were blocked as well, and she came in with a third…

…Or not. As he moved to block, she immediately changed directions, lowering her left hand and delivering a hook to his body. Unfortunately, he dropped his right elbow with uncanny timing, stopping the attack cold.

"Good try," he said with a nod. "Do that against someone who won't expect it."

The woman nodded and settled into stance again, moving around on her feet. She tossed out another jab, but this time he was expecting it, and immediately parried it, his left hand arcing in for a straight just as the punch came home. The woman ducked, knowing perfectly well that he would try to set that up, and moved in with several hits to his body.

She felt the fists impacting, sinking in a few inches, and yet he seemed unfazed. 'He really is tough,' she thought to herself as she caught his uppercut and attempted a right knee kick. Her attack was caught as well in the same movement that caught his uppercut, and now they were in hit-trade mode.

The bad news was that the woman caught more heat than the man did, and ended up stumbling backwards for a few inches after a hit to her solar plexus. She sucked in a breath of air before she settled back into a fighting stance. 'Wow… not only tough, but accurate, too. It's just as I expected.' Well she would just have to be faster than he was.

For a brief moment, she focused her ki into her legs before lunging forward with a sudden, explosive movement. The man immediately went into defensive mode as she approached, and blocked her thrust punch to the chest before coming in with another shot to the body, this time with his own knee strike.

She saw it coming out of the corner of her eye and immediately threw her right elbow into his left side, making him halt what he was doing and stumble for a bit. Not wasting any time, the woman executed a left front kick, further knocking him off balance and to the ground. Sure, he'd get up, but he had been knocked to the ground.

'Sweet, I got him!'

Sakura Kasugano had been challenged by Ryu to a battle in the early morning, just a light sparring session. While she didn't feel quite ready yet, he assured her that he would not do anything to hurt her. They both had grappling gloves on, Sakura donning her traditional red this time. After all, this was a special occasion.

Ryu sprung back to his feet and settled into his stance. "Very good, you forced me into an opening. Get ready!"

With that, he came at her with a left roundhouse kick aimed at her ribs… but just as she lowered her right arm to block, she felt a pain in her leg. She had fallen for that one, plain and simple. Another kick was landed to the other side of that same leg, and the pain intensified. She gritted her teeth and waited for another opening, and as soon as Ryu lifted his leg a third time to attack…

'There!'

She rammed her right fist into his gut with a vertical punch, nailing him right in the solar plexus. His breathing cut short and he stumbled backwards again. Ryu got hit twice with punches to the chest before settling back into stance just in time to slip past her third punch.

Sakura was caught with a hammer fist to her right side that made her bones rattle and made her stagger to her left. Oh, that stung. But she forced her mind to silence itself as her face took on a determined expression. She had to keep moving. And move she did as she stepped forward and attempted to deck him clean in the chest again. He blocked, and she struck again, and again, maintaining pressure on his guard.

'She's into it now,' he thought to himself. 'That was a good rush.'

But soon, the punches began to get predictable, and he made an attempt to counter. As her next punch came in, Ryu suddenly rammed his right fist into her gut, trying to wind her again. The key word here is trying, because Sakura withdrew her attack and spun to her left. The punch whiffed… and Sakura was in the finishing position for a spinning roundhouse kick.

Her shin bone stopped two inches from his head.

Ryu sighed and said, "You got me."

She grinned and replied, "I got lucky. You hit hard. Anymore, and I'd be in your shoes! Besides, this is just a spar. If you were going full out, I'd lose quickly."

Ryu smiled and said, "Well one thing's for sure; you've got the basics down. Almost threw me back there, too." The two of them relaxed and bowed to each other, then made their way down from the roof. "You're going to have to show me the Shoryuken today, since you've proven to be so good at defending yourself."

Sakura nodded. She would have to put everything she had learned over the past few days together, seamlessly and simultaneously, and it would be no easy feat. A week had passed since she started training this new move, and she would have to get it right now, or spend the rest of the month trying to. Not like she minding practicing this for the rest of the month; she enjoyed her time with Ryu. Still, this was her chance to work it, and work it right.

"I'll do my best, sensei."

They headed into the forests again and isolated themselves in an area that was entirely silent. There were no birds, no insects, and apparently no wind through the trees- it felt like the place was trapped in a vacuum. "This is a strange part of the forest," Ryu said softly. "Absolutely no sounds pass through here besides our voices. It's been here for a while, and whenever I come back to this castle, it's my meditation area."

Sakura nodded and said, "So what am I going to be using it for?"

Ryu said solemnly, "The Shoryuken is marked by the distinct sound of the air moving away from the fist as it travels upwards. Should this move be executed with enough intent behind it, it will literally cut the air, and anything else in its way."

Sakura lowered her eyes to the ground and said, "Like Gouki?"

Ryu nodded. "Exactly like him. But we're using a different kind of ki than he does. So what I'm listening for is the sound of the air parting as you move upwards. This is achieved by the ki that's focused in the striking area, the fist. So far, this is the only place where one can hear such a thing properly."

He sat down on the ground, folded his legs in lotus posture, and closed his eyes. "I don't have to look at your Shoryuken to know if it's a good one. All I have to do is hear it. Whenever you're ready, let one fly."

Sakura nodded and took a few steps back. Ryu began his breathing, tuning out other distractions. Sakura began hers as well, and within mere moments her mind was a void. She felt the ki flowing through her, but did not take hold of it. She had realized that was her problem in the first place. She was only the humble guide of such energy, not its master. She had to align herself with it instead of try to control it.

Sakura dipped low, keeping her back as straight as she could. Her waist twisted slightly, and the energy seemed to multiply in speed as it raced towards her legs. At the same time, she brought her right fist to bear, using her willpower to increase the flow of energy in the entire forearm. Whereas it took several seconds to do this before, now at the end of the week it took a mere two-tenths of a second.

Yes, she trained that hard. This was a full-time thing for her. It was work, it was life.

And it led to this…

"Shoryuken," Sakura shouted as she launched herself upwards, fist pumping into the air as her legs drove upward. The distinct rush of air being displaced was heard, even in her ears, and yet her mind was undisturbed. It felt good, that was for sure.

At the top of her jump, she felt the energy wind down and fade away, and immediately began her rotation. By the beginning of her descent, she had her back turned to the direction that she initially faced, but by the middle of her fall, she was facing in said direction again.

Thus as she landed… she felt no discomfort, and her knees bent as she settled back into stance.

It was done.

Ryu opened his eyes, smiled, and clapped his hands in recognition of her achievement. "Exactly, you got it on the money. How did it feel?"

Sakura smiled and said, "Like I was flying." She giggled and said, "I wanna do that again!"

Ryu nodded and said, "Go ahead, but there's one catch." He stood up, placed his toes on a nearby rock, and moved it until it was over his right foot, just before flicking it upwards and catching it with his right hand. "Try to hit this."

Sakura calmed herself and prepared to go for the rock. It weighed a good five kilos. Ryu tossed it in his hand a few times and said, "If you can break this in one shot, I'll acknowledge you as having completed training in this move. Then you're free to do with it as you wish, modify it in any way you see fit."

Sakura nodded, but said nothing. This was her chance to show the strength of this move. She set herself and prepared to jump.

Ryu simply tossed the stone into the air at a high angle, underhanded. Sakura immediately dipped low, focused her energy, and shot upwards for fifteen feet. As expected, the fist impacted with the rock on its way down, and the ki surrounding the striking area alone shattered the rock. She recovered, landed, and raised one leg, focusing a bit of energy towards the foot before stomping downwards.

The leaves on the ground seemed to flee from her as she created a small shockwave. "Osu!"

Ryu smiled. "And that is the Shoryuken."

She grinned and just about tackled Ryu, hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much! I promise I'll work hard to make this my own!"

He ruffled her hair with one hand and said, "Don't mention it. Just use it at a proper time, okay? You don't have to rely on this move all that often; otherwise it'll get predictable."

She nodded excitedly and said, "I promise! Really, I'll be careful!"

He chuckled and didn't think she would, but he would have to trust her for now. "All right, let's get back to the castle. It's way past time to eat breakfast, don't you think?" He began heading back towards the castle with Sakura in tow. She remembered that it was Karin's turn to cook, especially since she had insisted on doing it herself.

'Just hope she knows what she's doing. I mean, she's been in the care of servants for so long… I doubt that she can cook for herself.' Sakura shook her head and cleared it of doubts. She would rather trust in her friend than doubt her entirely. Besides, if it did go bad, she'd teach her how! That was what friends were for, after all.

"Can't wait," she said excitedly.

Karin was nervous. To be honest, she had never really cooked anything before now. Sure, fish was supposed to be simple and all that, but in reality it took a lot more than just cooking and eating it. Luckily for her, she had the internet to show her how things were done.

'I just hope I did it properly… I can't exactly taste my cooking while it's cooking. Not like this, anyways.'

Thankfully, she need not have worried.

"Wow, are you sure this is your first try?" Sakura asked with a hint of surprise. "This is good stuff!"

Karin actually blushed slightly. "I admit it needs work, don't go too easy on me. I certainly would like you to teach me a few tricks; you seem to cook so well." Still, she felt happy that she could help out, just a bit. She cleared her throat and said, "So where do you think we'll head after we're done here? I mean, if Sakura finishes her training early."

Ryu had to consider that for a moment. True, they were ahead of schedule, but she still had a ways. "Well I'm just teaching her the basics. She'll have to develop the rest of it on her own, but once she learns everything, we'll probably be heading towards China first."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and said, "Why there?"

Ryu shrugged, as if he didn't know why. He had a reason, but didn't want to explain just yet. "I figure it would be a good place to begin looking for fights, since most, if not all of what they do there is kung fu. I actually know someone who has practiced and mastered several different styles of Chinese Martial Arts, including Tai Chi."

Karin raised an eyebrow. She had actually trained in Tai Chi as well, so this was of interest to her. "That sounds intriguing. So, do you have any idea where we go after that?"

Sakura grinned and said, "Wherever there's a fight, we go there! We've got technology on our side and our own ears and feet. With those, we can do anything."

Ryu nodded and said, "I'm kind of used to doing the leg work, but if you guys can find something, that's all right as well. But there's nothing like just finding a fight on the road. It could happen anywhere, really. Not like that's a good thing – there are people out there that want to rob you, stab you in the back, things like that."

Karin scoffed and said, "Lowlifes, in other words."

Sakura shook her head and said, "Then we just avoid them. If we can't, it's their bad luck, not ours."

Ryu nodded. "Sooner or later, we'll run into someone strong, and then the interesting part begins. But for now, let's just plan our route and see what happens from there."

But see, there was a problem with having a planned route; Gouki could sense their ki even when Ryu couldn't always sense his. If he could predict their next point on the map, he could intercept them. Sakura had no chance of beating him with her fledging moves. He would have to fend him off every time until she got the hang of her techniques.

'Who knows when that will be?'

No, he planned on going to Hong Kong first, warning Chun Li that Gouki was on the move, and then picking a destination at random. He would only stay in China for a month at best, enough time for Sakura to pick up a few extra pointers, and then moving on. With her doing the tracking and warning them beforehand, it would be a piece of cake to evade him.

'Maybe… or Gouki might catch wind of it and evade them.'

Either way, he didn't really have another option. He'd have to call in a favor, and it wouldn't be pretty. But it would allow him some free degree of movement, and a way to keep track of Gouki in ways that he could normally not accomplish. It was risky, but worth a shot.

Besides, he wouldn't be surprised if she had already caught wind of the incident in that alley by now. If he could inform her that Gouki was behind it, then she would tie him up in her own little chase while he was free to allow Sakura to develop her talents. But then in order to convince her to do that, he would have to do a bit of… creative speaking.

'I don't like lying to her,' he brooded to himself, 'but I don't have a choice.'

"Hey, are you okay, Ryu?" Sakura asked with one eyebrow raised. "You seem a bit… worried."

Karin said nothing, but looked in his direction as well. He looked up, realized that he had retreated into himself, and smiled. "It's nothing. I was just planning things out in my head, that's all. I'd rather just leave it at heading for Hong Kong for the moment." Ryu smiled and said, "Trust me; you'll like this friend of mine."

Sakura nodded and said, "I'm sure we will." She tilted her head to the right and said, "So what do we do in the meantime?"

Ryu smiled and said, "Keep training."

'And hope,' he added silently, 'that we're not caught yet.'

The day drove towards its end, but Sakura could not sleep. Usually, she was capable of being out like a candle within minutes of closing her eyes, but this time it was different. Restlessness hung over her as if it were a second blanket, making her anxious. She slowly sat up in the night and observed as Karin and Ryu slept soundly.

'Lucky,' she thought to herself.

She silently got out of her sleeping bag and headed outside, her grappling shorts and sports bra the only things she wore to bed. Hey, at least they were comfortable, no doubt about that. Karin always wore a robe of some kind – some things about her wouldn't change at all, she supposed. The fighter girl headed outside, stretched her arms above her head, and decided to do the one thing that she always did when she couldn't sleep… run.

'I have to at least get myself a bit tired.'

A few moments later, she had her running shoes on and was headed at her usual ten mile an hour pace. As her body settled into the familiar pattern, the one where her mind did not have to worry about such things, she began to consider why exactly it was she could not rest. She knew she needed it; knew that she had to get her energy back for the next day.

'So why am I moving right now, attempting to run myself exhausted?'

Her mind could not conceive an answer. Perhaps it did not want to.

She ran through the forests and bathed in the quiet and cool of the evening. Nights like this were going to be few and far between once they were on the move; she figured she might as well enjoy them while she still could. With a content smile, she continued her pace until she reached the waterfall, and halted for a moment as she sat on one of the large rocks near the lake.

The moon shone exceptionally bright tonight, full and round like a silver coin. She reached up to touch it, or at least imagined she could, and smiled to herself. She would absolutely love to live here for the rest of her life; it was beautiful, peaceful, and entirely free of worries. Isolated from the rest of the world, one might say.

"Then again," she said to herself, "That'd be boring; no fun at all. What would I do for money?"

Then she laughed. "Yeah, as if that mattered! I could wash my clothes here in this lake, catch fish from the river for dinner, and just live the peaceful life. But then there'd be no one to fight… and no one to fight means that I couldn't have any fun."

Besides, she couldn't just have Karin for a sparring partner.

"There have got to be all sorts of tough people out there. I have to see how far I can go." She stopped reaching for the moon and stood up from the rock, stretching out as she did so. "Phew, still not tired." She looked down towards all the smooth river stones that were next to the lake… and suddenly had an idea.

Sakura grinned and said, "Might as well try it out!"

She hopped down from the rock, landed on the balls of her feet, and dusted herself off before taking a single, cleansing breath. She smiled as she channeled energy into her right leg, lifting it upwards as she did so before ramming it into the ground. This time, she added a bit more to it before doing so and sharply exhaled as her leg pounded home.

Several stones flung upwards toward head height, and time seemed to slow down as she began ramming her fists and feet towards the rocks. Whenever her attacks landed, even without ki behind them, they smashed whatever they hit, shattering them into tiny pieces.

Naturally, this took an incredible reaction time, and the average reaction time is one-fifth of a second; around the neighborhood of 0.2 seconds. That's not bad, but it's not fast enough. Sakura however had been training for years before now. Now that she was using the original style itself… reaction time was not a problem.

Within the space of a single second, Sakura executed a flurry of sharp, accurate blows that caused multiple stones to shatter like so many fragile ornaments. With that said, she was finished with all six stones in the time it takes for one to blink. Letting out a long, controlled exhale, she allowed the rocks to fall towards the ground again, looking at her handiwork.

"Not bad," she said with a smile.

Her reaction time was above and beyond, at almost a tenth of a second. It was simple to increase such a thing as timing, but difficult to use that timing to advantage. Then again, it was how she had remained undefeated; knowing when an opponent was going to commit to an attack, and then immediately responding to it in the opening that was left.

And with that, she began to move again, back towards the forests. There was something else she wanted to try. As she made her way towards one of the biggest trees she could find in the place, she wondered if this would work in the way it was intended to. She had seen Ken use the move once… and wondered if she could execute it.

His version of the Shoryuken landed multiple times, ramming into the opponent in more than one spot. Was this how he did it? Did she just unlock something more than just a new move this day? The more she thought about it, the more she had to know.

She stopped in front of a sizable tree and took a look at it for a brief moment before suddenly coming to a decision. She dipped, focused, and immediately executed, shunting even more energy into her legs and right arm than before.

"Shoryuken!"

The punch landed… and it rammed its way up the tree. Sakura could feel the pressure of multiple strikes; not just two of them, but four. She reached the top of her ascent and felt the energy fade as she twisted, facing forward again upon landing. She looked up at what she had wrought… and grinned.

"So that is how it happens."

She had left a clear rut in the tree, a mark of the punishment the attack could deliver. She grinned and said, "Oh, this is gonna be so awesome. I can't wait to make up my own version of this."

Now all she needed to do was find out how… and that was something that Ryu could not teach her. But she liked that; it was better for her to form her own strategies anyway. Besides, it was no fun just copying the move without putting a little twist on it!

Round 14: Shoryuken

There you have it, guys. The second move established, and she's already putting a killer whiplash on it. How far will she take this one? What new mark will she leave on one of the staple moves of Ansatsuken? Only time will tell, because not even I know. Honestly, I don't; I'm just writing from the hip here.

In this chapter, I decided to look forward a bit; try and get some story work done on where they would be going and when. Sakura's training will be finished soon, and it will more than likely be high time to leave. Once again, I have no idea how they're going to begin their journey around the world, but it's going to be a wild and crazy ride, that's for certain.

Once again, thanks for reading the story; I appreciate it quite a bit. Though I would like a review or two left in your wake, it does my heart good to see people reading what I have to offer. Keep watching for more excitement!

Prepare to strike… now.