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.

First of all, let me apologize for the rather long hiatus on writing. I mentioned in a chapter that I found a job and that came first. Boy did it ever! With the happiness and joy of finally finding a job, I put in OT, made some money, made some friends. I ended up getting promoted a year later and now I supervise a whole team of people. Also, met a guy, and we have been together for a year now.

Fan fiction writing was many things to me. First it was my outlet to loneliness. Second, it was my way of getting away from reality. I needed it to get away from life.

I am not going to get into my entire life story, but I was unemployed, lonely and miserable, so fantasizing about imaginary guys was my outlet.

Not that I am unemployed, sad, or miserable, but I did a lot of catching up on my reading, found myself on and thought… Wow, I never finished it. I need to do that. With it being a year into my relationship, and work stress on the low, I find I have more time again. Boyfriend plays a few video games (I can totally kick his ass in Street Fighter though) and I write.

I'm going to be honest, its been almost 2 years since I have written ANYTHING. Also, I did outline my story, so I remember what is supposed to happen, but the flow may not be as good as it used to be in my head. It will pick back up at some point.

Thank you for your patience! I know its been a long time coming.

As expected, Sakura, Ryu and Ken won their fights with their opponents. Sakura finished off her rival with a rain of blue fire blasts as she was in the air. Ken was able to pull off an amazing Dragon Punch, continually jumping higher and higher, engulfed in red flames, which left the other guy motionless on the floor afterwards. Ryu, with what felt like more precision and grace, finalized his match with the Shinku Hurrican Kick. Even though this is a move I have been able to complete myself, Ryu's style made it seem like I was still only a beginner.

Vega also advanced to the next round. He remains as brutal as ever, since it is still unknown if his opponent is alive, having been slashed and gutted through his abdomen. I focused as much as I could through his fight with the unfortunate fellow to gauge his abilities, to see from the watchers angle on what it was that I was truly up against. My fight with him before was just to prove something to Ryu, and I know I dove into that unknowing as to what was to be expected. The only other fight I witnessed of him was short and mostly unlearning. Even after I fought him, did I fully understand what that madman was capable of?

Because of the loss with him, I could truly see where it was that I underestimated him in his speed. The fight I witnessed today almost matched exactly as his fight with me, except he didn't attempt to molest the mans face with his tongue as he did mine.

One thing I know for sure, I cannot let Sakura win. Vega has a sick satisfaction with harming his opponents, molesting the women he fights (or at least he tried with me), and I know he would show no remorse on killing a young girl after he has had his perverse fun with her. As a grown woman, I can handle his manners. I am unsure if Sakura would be the same.

Today is for sure another long day of fighting, and many of us left, because we have already had a bout today, look exhausted. Maybe it was luck that the first 4 matches were my group and I, hopefully giving us enough time to recover for the next round.

I do not look forward to fighting her, but I know Sakura is going to give it all she's got, and this may be my toughest fight thus far…

RYU POV

Ken and I watch as our pupils enter the arena. Even though she is older and has much more experience with martial arts, her opponent has the upper hand on her abilities to harness her Ki. Although, Sakura does tend to unleash a large amount of energy, it is widely spaced, and not as effective as the concentrated smaller blasts of Renee. Still, Sakura had more of the natural ability to harness the energy, while Renee was the natural at skill and stance. I worry for the both of them.

"You know Renee will not let Sakura win." I say to Ken.

He grimaces and curls his lip. "I don't know, dude. They are pretty evenly matched. This could go either way."

"She won't let her win because of who she would have to face next."

Ken looks at the brackets. "You don't even know if Vega will win."

"He will."

Ken lets out a 'humpf.' "Well, I will just have to make sure she is prepared for it tomorrow when she win's this round with Renee." He sticks his tongue out at me.

"What are you prepared to do if Vega gets the upper hand with her? Are you going to stand by and watch her die?"

Ken's look goes from sarcastic to a scowl. "We have already told them there is no turning back. I have to let what happens, happen. What about you, are you going to interfere again? No offense, but you don't want to have a reputation. You have already done it once. Do it again, and you may not have any credibility in future tournaments. Your life mission goes out the window. Word would travel, you know it would."

I breath in and let out a deep sigh, "I know. At this moment I don't know what I would do. I have to wait and see."

We focus on the arena where the girls have already started circling each other. Renee makes the first move by attempting a sweep that Sakura back flips over. As she lands, she throws her first projectile at Renee. As usual, it is large, blue, an full of cold flame, and not easily dodged by Renee. Regardless, she blocks it with ease, and with no sign of pain showing in her form.

Just as I thought would happen, Sakura focuses on using Ki based attacks and Renee uses her hand to hand and close combat skills. I can feel how instead of performing the moves of the art, she focuses her Ki energy to certain parts of her body, either to enhance a punch or kick, or to reinforce herself to handle a blast from Sakura.

Sakura looks as if she is slowing down. Ken is also looking worried. Renee still looks mostly energized as Sakura unleashes more blasts, half turn kicks and running uppercuts. She looks like she is just waiting for the right time.

The right time arrives. As I hear Sakura yell "SHOOOKEN!" Renee successfully blocks the uppercut. As Sakura is flying through the air from her failed attempt at her special move, Renee jumps and spins. As I have seen it before, the whirlwind tornado from ground to ceiling appears. Sakura is hit with every spin and kick inside the vortex. Lightning shoots out of Renee with each contact hit. More lightning appears in the eye of the storm, striking the ground with a crackling sound.

Renee lands on her feet. Sakura, with the last kick to her ribs, lands forcefully on the arena floor. She moves around, rolling from her back to her side, but fails to get up. The countdown beings, then reaches to its end, with Sakura still unable to get up.

For the first time in a long time, I feel fear. I know what tomorrow brings. I can only hope that she is strong enough… fast enough… to beat Vega.

This was not beta read. Also, I will likely come back to this and add more detail. Near the end it got late and I wanted to go to bed… but I wanted to publish something tonight.