Chapter 3

Ryu and his companions marched straight into the house where Nina was.

"Oh… it's you guys again." she said, dazedly. "What are you doing?"

"Shh… drink this." Ryu said quietly, and he passed her the bottle filled with the tonic. She drank it down, and made a face.

"Eww… it tastes nasty! But…" she cocked her head at Ryu, looking at him from one angle, and then another. Suddenly, her blank expression was replaced by a beaming smile. "Ryu! It's you! It really is you!"

Ryu smiled in return. "Glad you finally recognize me! Do you remember everyone else?" He gestured back to the gang, who waved.

"Of course! How could I forget?"

"Well, you did for a little while." Ryu said with a chuckle.

"Oh, you!" She laughed, and she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"You had to put the key in, didn't you?" he asked with a grin, returning the hug.

"Oh, can't we forget about that?"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Well, let's take the rest of the day off!" Ryu said. "What say you?"

Everybody cheered!

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That evening, they all sat around the campfire. They told stories and sang songs, roasted fresh meat, and simply enjoyed being in each other's presence. (Except Gobi's, maybe.) Ryu would talk about his dreams of the future, when the war would be over, and then Sara could come home, and then they'd fix Drogen up nice and everything would be happy again! Karn told tales of how he'd broken into king's palaces and rich merchant's homes and stole priceless goods.

Finally, be it from their full stomachs or the hour of the night, they presently grew drowsy, and one by one they drifted off to sleep. Except Ryu, that is. He sat on a stump, staring into the blazing flames, not thinking about anything in particular. Suddenly, he felt unbelievably tired, and seemed to hear a voice whisper to him, "Go to sleep… go to sleep…"

Ryu nodded off and closed his eyes. He slept restlessly, feeling sensations of being lifted from the ground, and of sharp winds blazing past him. Then he bolted awake, and screamed! He really was off the ground, and the winds were zipping past him; he was on the back of a huge bird!

"Hey!" He cried. "Hey you, bird! Put me down! Put me down NOW!"

The same angelic voice came back to him. "Shh.. I will not harm you. Go back to sleep. Sleep…" The drowsiness overcame him again and he closed his eyes.

The sounds of a rushing waterfall woke Ryu from his slumbers. He opened his eyes and saw a bright blue sky above him. He sat up groggily, andd saw that he was sitting in a grassy meadow, surrounded by a forest, with flowers of all kinds blooming all around him. The waterfall nearby cascaded down into a brook that babbled past the trees.

"Lord help me," he lamented, falling back in the grass, "For I must have died, because I am now in Heaven!"

"Hush now, Ryu, you have not died." Said the angelic voice again. Ryu tilted his head to see none other than Princess Nina lying in the grass next to him. "I'd hear nothing of it."

"Nina?" he asked, still not completely in tune with his senses. "How are you here to?"

"I brought you here." she said, smiling and running her hand over his cheek. She moved closer and turned so that she could rest her head on Ryu's chest.

"Where are we?"

Nina smiled. "It's a little place I know. That doesn't matter." She ran her hand through his azure-colored hair. "What matters is that we're here together."

Ryu brushed the hair aside from her face and gazed into her deep, pale eyes. In that moment, they understood each other. They knew. They felt no need to explain it to each other. They had recognized the deep love they felt for each other.

"Oh Ryu…" she whispered, and she kissed him softly, taking it slow, but the kiss deepened as he returned it, and for a while they lay there, two lovers kissing passionately in the grass. It seemed a life age had passed when they broke the kiss. Nina had shifted her position so that she was now fully on top of Ryu. "Ryu…" she whispered in his ear, "I think… you know what I want you to do."

"But, Nina…" he began, but she shushed him with a deep kiss.

"Please… right now. I need to."

Ryu consented, and she moved her clothing to allow him to ease gently in. It was gentle at first, but as both of them got into it, it became faster and rougher, and it finally ended in a giant, climactic explosion of seed.

They lay there, catching their breath. "Oh, Ryu…" Nina breathed, "I truly do love you. I love you from deep within the farthest reaches of my heart and soul!"

Ryu kissed her. "I love you as well, Nina."

For another long while they simply lay there in each other's embrace, reveling in love. Finally, Nina looked to the east. "The sun will be up soon… we should go."

"Okay." Ryu said. And Nina spread her arms out wide, and the arms became wings, and her body grew and morphed into a Great Bird of Winlan. Ryu climbed onto her back, and they departed, Princess Nina and her lover.

THE END!

BENEDICTION: So what did you all think? Not bad for a BoF 1 yarn, eh? Please review! Thanks a bundle, and until next time, this is Father Hulk, signing off!!!