Hidden in the shadows, silently watching the famed Street Fighter warrior interact with a child, Akuma's devilish lips curled into a smile. Ryu showed such kindness to those in need. To someone who was unfamiliar to the warrior, they would've assumed this as a sign of weakness; a weakness that was more than made up for by the size of his heart.
But Akuma scoffed at how ridiculous such a reasonable assumption could be. He could sense the chi energy radiating from Ryu, and it was anything but weak. Out of the few that practiced the Shotokan art today, Ryu was the only one capable of handling the Satsui no Hadou. Among the others, there was Ken, Ryu's long time companion who trained alongside him. The blond haired, filthy rich martial artist was fairly skilled in the Shotokan arts, adding his unique touch to the shoryuken, a devastating uppercut move. But Ken was far too fiery tempered and too instinctive to be able to understand the nature of the Satsui no Hadou. There was Dan, that pink wearing pony tailed man. His art was a mockery of Shotokan, resulting to calling it "Saisho" style. Whatever the hell that meant. The only reason why his style resembled that of the Shotokan was because he too once trained with Ryu and Ken, only to be expelled by Akuma's own brother Gouken, after realizing Dan was studying the arts for the wrong reasons.
Dan and Ken were both far too weak to understand, let alone nurture the power of the Satsui no Hadou. And oddly enough, as if it were fate behind all of it, Akuma couldn't think of a more worthy recipient to it than Ryu. It wasn't as if there was a lot of people to choose from anyway.
Akuma brought his fingers to his forehead and glided silently over to where Ryu walked with the child trailing shortly behind, leaving shadows trailing him.
* * *
"Something terrible is about to happen," a voice echoed in his head. Snapping out of his meditation a mysterious ninja could sense the impending danger. The man, known only to a few simply as Guy, wiped his forehead, realizing it was coated with sweat. He looked around the dark hotel room, waiting for his eyes to adjust. When one meditated, there was no use for any sensory organs, only one's mind. Having awoken from rest, his eyes had trouble focusing for a moment on its surroundings.
Guy stood up and nearly tripped on the elaborate coffee table, placed impractically in the centre of the room. He never understood the life of the wealthy. Why would anybody pay so much money to stay in a place like this four star hotel? Sure, it was pretty to look at, but when it came to movement, it was hell. The room might have been of sufficient size if it wasn't choked with flowers and over decorated furniture. The organizers of the Street Fighter tournament worked so hard to please the participants and he recognized that, but their efforts went to waste on him.
He caught a glimpse of himself in a full-length mirror out in the living room. Guy was dressed in a short sleeve uniform, orange in color. Along the left side, the words "Bushin" were written in kanji, signifying his rank in the Bushin ninja style martial arts. The shirt was tucked comfortably into a piece of matching fabric wrapped around his waist. The orange pants of his uniform were loose, allowing air to flow in and out nicely.
He walked over to the window, gazing out at the ocean of lights before him, his mind focused on his earlier meditation. What was about to happen that was terrible enough to snap him out of his concentration? Guy always knew the Street Fighter tournaments were crawling with creeps from regular street thugs to the evil dictator himself, M. Bison. But Guy's intent on entering the tournament was never for glory or fame. He wanted to rid the world of evil. While he was aware it was impossible for one man to do it alone, he took comfort in the fact that he would contribute to the cause.
The spark of his crusade was about a decade ago, in Metro City, a city that was overrun by a then crime syndicate, the Mad Gear gang. The gang was so widespread throughout the city that it had become more powerful than the officials themselves. In fact, the Mad Gear had members running the police system. Recalling the long, bitter fight to end the corruption a foul taste formed in Guys mouth. The breaking point came when his friend at the time, Jessica Haggar was captured and held for ransom. Ironically enough, she just so happened to be the daughter of former street fighter, current mayor, Mike Haggar.
He was a gorilla of a man, well over six feet tall, every inch of his body bulging with muscle. Together, along with Cody, who was Guy's knife wielding best friend and Jessica's boyfriend at the time, and Mike, they formed a three man army who decided to deal with Mad Gear the old fashioned way; kicking them off the streets – literally.
Guy sighed. They were successful in their attempt, ridding Metro City from the Mad Gear gang. But after learning about the corruption in the Street Fighter circuit by the dictator of a crime organization named Shadowlaw, Guy had a new purpose. He used his Bushin ninja skills against the Mad Gear and won, what made Shadowlaw so much more difficult? The fact that they were a global criminal organization, perhaps? Guy shrugged it off. He was always up for a challenge.
He now focused his mind on the trouble at hand. Moments ago, he sensed the chi of a terrible evil make itself known in the city. Guy didn't consider himself telepathic by any stretch of the word, but the intensity of the energy and the sheer evil of its nature were so strong, it had disrupted his meditation. The fact that is could do that frightened Guy. Whatever it was, there was nothing he could do about it now. He was too far away. But he silently hoped against fate that it wasn't as bad as he thought it was, although his heart told him something different altogether.
* * *
Sakura could've worn she felt her heart stop. Her stomach was growling like a lion, while running towards the motel that awaited her not too far away. It was the babbling of some brat that caught her initial attention at first. She scanned her surroundings for the child, wanting to know what kind of creature would be capable of producing such an offensive sound. She found him and her heart melted. Rosy cheeks with a mat of black hair, outsized by the giant jacket and toque he was wearing, he was the most adorable child she'd ever seen.
"Maybe that's what my kid will look like when Ryu and I get married," she fantasized to herself. And that's when she saw him. Standing there beside the boy, in all his street fighter glory was Ryu himself. Sakura had to blink twice, to make sure it really was him. But there was no mistaking it. After spending days gazing at the pictures of the world warrior that decorated the walls of her room, Sakura had the image of his face branded into her mind – not that she minded. He was even wearing the headband, just like hers! Only his must've been more authentic. Sakura began sprinting towards Ryu's direction, not knowing what she was going to say to him when they came face to face.
Sakura was only a few feet away from her idol when she stopped dead in her tracks. A chill made it's way up her spine. Something was very wrong. She took a quick glance at Ryu, and then at the boy. Neither looked peculiar. It was that dark shadow that seemed to be advancing on the pair more quickly than Sakura herself was. It was eerie, to the point where she was afraid to advance any closer. She had to though. The life of her idol was in danger although she was sure Ryu would be able to take care of the thing better than she would. But the shadow was approaching them from behind. They wouldn't have enough time to see it coming.
Then, a red flame erupted around the shadowy figure and she heard, in a deep, dark voice, "Messatsu!" The surrounding energy seemed to be sucked into the shadow, as a gust of wind blew towards its general direction. She could make out a glowing ball of energy gathering in its fists, and its red, glowing eyes. The shadow gathered its energy into its chest with its palms, about to attack the unsuspecting pair.
"Ryu!!" Sakura screamed frantically with all the energy in her.