Author's Note: I think this chapter required the most revisions of the entire 'fic. I wrote this before I started taking writing courses and learned about character description, plot development, etc. So when I applied all that I'd learned to what I now refer to as the "rough" copy of this chapter . . . well, let's just say it took me three days to fix it up to the point where I was happy with it. And I am happy with it now, or I wouldn't be putting it up here. I think it's much better than what I had before, but I guess you'll just have to decide that for yourselves.

In case anyone's wondering, Kaori is not a self-inserted character. She just a character that I totally made up.

ALL PATHS CROSSING

A Sailor Moon/Street Fighter Crossover Fanfiction

by Kasumi Todoh

Chapter 2

Trouble in the Air

Just as Luna and Artemis had predicted, a strange and evil being was indeed heading at top speed toward Earth. At first glance, this creature had the appearance of a human woman, if one didn't count her pointed ears, bright orange skin and glowing red, pupil-less eyes. Waves of long orange hair flowed down her back, always moving and rippling, as if it had a mind of its own. She wore a strapless dark-red dress with a jagged sleeves, hem and low-cut collar, that completely covered her legs and feet in its length. Her hair was held down only by a pointed gold tiara, studded with large rubies, that sat perched on top of her head.

Her name was Kakkazan, and she was on a mission to gather enough energy from humans to give her the strength to conquer the Earth, and possibly the whole universe. Others had come to Earth for the very same purpose, but all had failed. Now Kakkazan had her own plan to gather energy from the planet, and she was all ready to carry it out.

In almost no time at all, she had passed through the Earth's atmosphere, soaking up its thousand-degree heat the way a sunbather soaks up the sun's rays. Seconds after that, the country of Japan, and then city of Tokyo, appeared below.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Interpol secret agent Chun Li had found herself on an isolated assignment in Tokyo. The details of the assignment were still sketchy at best, except that they had to be pretty important, since she had been specifically chosen out of all the other agents.

At least, she reflected, looking out her hotel room window overlooking the cityscape, it's a nice change of pace.

Tonight, however, things had been rather quiet, and Chun Li had actually managed to secure some time to herself. Dressed in her usual blue-and-yellow outfit with white boots and

spiked bracelets, and her brown hair done up in its usual two braided buns, Chun Li looked like she was getting ready to step into a wrestling ring, rather than sitting at a hotel room desk typing away at a laptop. However, these were the clothes that she felt the most comfortable in.

She was going over the intelligence notes that she had collected so far, when something suddenly drew her attention back to the window. Chun Li looked up, and saw a bright flash streak across the darkened sky. She quickly went out onto the balcony and looked around, but whatever it was, it was gone now. Anyone else might have thought it was shooting star, but Chun Li was almost certain that she saw it head toward the ground and disappear behind some buildings. And yet, there was no sight or sound of anything hitting the ground.

Eventually, Chun Li went back inside and tried to resume working, but found that she could no longer focus. She spent almost an hour trying to get back on track, before finally admitting defeat. With a sigh, Chun Li closed the laptop, changed out of her clothes, and went to bed. But even then, sleep would not come. She just couldn't stop thinking about what that bright flash might have been, and why such a sense of foreboding came over her when she pictured it in her mind.

Nestled into the mountains above Tokyo, was a small dojo. Most of the time, the dojo stood empty, but at the moment, it was currently being occupied by two martial artists who, every year at this time, both came to this part of Japan to train and practice.

One of them, a man by the name of Ken Masters, was sleeping soundly, until he was suddenly woken up by . . . well, he wasn't sure what it was exactly – like a feeling, perhaps, or maybe something else. He rolled over and started to go back to sleep, when he noticed that the bed next to him was empty. Sighing, Ken got up and lifted the flap that draped down across the door. Ken had a feeling that he wouldn't have to look far to find his training partner and friend, Ryu.

Ken and Ryu were almost complete opposites, from their looks (Ken was American, with long blond hair that he kept tied back with a red band, and Ryu was Japanese, with short brown hair that he kept tied back with a long white headband; Ken also wore a red gi when he practised, while Ryu wore a white gi with tattered sleeves all the time) to their personalities, but ten years of training together under the same teacher had made them fairly close friends. Ken knew Ryu pretty well, which made looking for him quite a bit easier.

Sure enough, Ryu was standing outside, looking up at the sky.

Ken knew that his friend was usually a very solitary person, but he also knew when something was bothering him. "What's up, Ryu?" he asked, stepping outside and walking over to him.

Ryu pointed to the sky. "Tell me what you make of that."

Ken looked up in time to see a large, bright orange flash of something, streaking across the night sky. "Wow," he said, shielding his eyes. "That thing's way too close and too bright to be a shooting star or a comet."

"Something tells me it isn't good, whatever it is," Ryu replied, seriously. "I sense that there's something very evil about it."

"Maybe you just need to get some sleep," his friend suggested, patting him on the back.

"We can't do anything about it right now, so we might as well wait until morning to check it out."

With that, Ken yawned, stretched, and went back inside. Ryu stayed outside for a few minutes longer, and then he too, slowly turned around and disappeared into the dojo.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your history notes," Sakura said to Kaori, as they walked home from the school the next day. Since they hadn't had any more run-ins with that little blond-haired girl from the day before, their encounter with her had pretty much faded from their memories entirely.

"No problem," Kaori replied. "They'll come in real handy on that test next week."

At that moment, they reached the front steps of Sakura's house. "Well, I guess this is where I get off," Sakura said. "Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to your house? There are some pretty questionable characters around here, you know."

Kaori laughed. "I'm positive. My house is only a couple blocks from here, anyway. It won't take me that long to get home. See ya tomorrow." She turned with a wave, and started walking down the street.

Sakura waved back enthusiastically. "See ya!" Then she trotted up the steps toward her house.

Around the same, Kakkazan was flying over Tokyo, too high for anyone to see her, but low enough for her to see them.

"Look at all those humans," she muttered to herself. "Each one full of energy just waiting to be taken. Soon it will all belong to me. But in order to observe their weaknesses, I must be able to walk among them unnoticed. For that, I will need a human body."

It was then that she spotted Kaori, walking down the street, alone.

Kakkazan smiled to herself. "Yes. She'll do nicely."

With that, she started diving down toward Kaori.

On the ground, Kaori suddenly had the feeling that someone was sneaking up on her. She slowly turned around, looked up . . . and saw Kakkazan flying straight at her!

"Your body is mine!" hissed Kakkazan.

As Sakura reached for the front door of her house, a sudden, piercing scream made her freeze. She swivelled her head toward the sound, which quickly came again, a high-pitched shriek of terror. She recognized the voice instantly. Kaori!

Quickly, Sakura leaped down the steps, clearing them all in a single jump. She took off as soon as her feet hit the sidewalk, running as fast as she could in the direction that her friend had gone.

No matter how fast Kaori ran, Kakkazan kept pursuing her. Frantically, Kaori tried to lose the creature by dashing into a darkened alley, only to run into – a dead end! Before she even had time to turn around, Kakkazan entered Kaori's body from behind.

Just then, Sakura ran up to her. "Kaori!" she gasped. "Are you all right?"

Kaori turned around. She looked perfectly normal. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well. . . " Sakura hesitated. "I . . . thought I heard you screaming."

Her friend shook her head. "It wasn't me. You must've been hearing things."

"But . . . "

"Do you see anything wrong?" Kaori asked her.

"N-no," Sakura replied uncertainly. "I . . . guess you're right. As long as you're okay, then I'll see you at school tomorrow." Sakura turned and walked out of the alley.

Kaori watched her disappear around the corner. Then she smiled an evil smile, and her eyes glowed, red and pupil-less.