-Interpol Building, Downtown Tokyo, several months after the wedding and honeymoon...-
It was a normal day in the office inside the International Criminal Police Organization's offices in Downtown Tokyo. Chun Li Xiang (she had decided to keep her last name) looked over the small stack of paperwork that was on her desk.
She was still one of Interpol's top agents, but since Shadowlaw was destroyed and her getting married, she accepted a position as a field analyst for Interpol. Of course, Chun Li would much rather be out chasing criminals but once her and Ryu had gotten married, they had reached a compromise in which Ryu would stop fighting in illegal tournaments, while Chun Li switched over from undecover agent to field analyst. She had told them that since Shadowlaw was now gone, there was no more need for her to go undercover.
Working as a field analyst meant a slight increase in paperwork, but she got a kick out of training up and coming Interpol recruits. What made her happy the most was that she was a married woman. She had her job, while Ryu was busy training his newest apprentice and reconnecting with his sister, who ran a kendo school in the city.
Having a former Shadowlaw operative as a sister-in-law was indeed challenging for Chun Li, given her family's past with the criminal syndicate, but Miya had proven herself to the Chinese martial artist and was instrumental in dismantling the remants of the organization, not to mention saving both her and Ryu's lives.
Right now, it was early in the afternoon and she was going through a file bureau, looking for several folders on the recruits that Interpol were training. Instead of her uniform, she was dressed down in a halter top, denim jeans and tennis shoes. Her Interpol ID badge was hanging from her belt. Her long brown hair ususally done in her braided and bunned 'ox-horn' style, fell down her back.
Ever since moving from Hong Kong to Japan, Chun Li was at peace with herself. She didn't mind leaving Hong Kong, since she could always visit.
Her co-worker, also a Chinese woman named Amy Mui, was also a field analyst and Chun Li's partner. Aside from the field analyst job, she also helped Chun Li train the newest Interpol recruits.
As she pulled a file from the drawer, she stopped to look at her wedding ring. Never in her wildest dreams that she would be married to Ryu. She had loved him for the longest time, and he had caught her off guard when he proposed to her.
It was while they were in San Francisco, visting Ken. He had proposed to her in the Masters Estate's Japanese garden. Chun Li smiled at the memory. Ryu was full of surprises, as Chun Li found out. Chun Li was a hard person to impress, and Ryu could do things that make her smile...even of it means sitting through a Chinese opera, which he took her for her birthday, or cooking her favorite Chinese dishes.
Amy saw the dreamy look on her partner's face as she stared at her wedding ring. "Uh...Chun Li, you all right? That's the third time today that you've looked at your wedding ring."
Chun Li snapped out of her trance. "Sorry," she apologized.
"So it's your husband?" Amy asked. "The Japanese guy? The one you talk about all the time?"
Chun Li nodded. "His name is Ryu."
Amy nodded in understanding. "I think I met him one time. It was when you were working late and he came by with some takeout Chinese food."
Chun Li remembered that night. She was working on a difficult case and couldn't make it back home for dinner, so Ryu did the next best thing. He had went to a local 24-hour Chinese restaurant, ordered them dinner and went on over to the Interpol Building. Fortunately, Chun Li was finished with her work for the night and they both went into a conference room and had dinner together.
So far, Ryu had kept his end of the bargain. He had no longer fought in illegal martial arts tournaments, but rather the underground ones where he and Chun Li would fight together to make some extra money.
"So..." Amy leaned forward. "Is everything all right at the house?" she asked, a sly grin on her face. "Is he performing his...husbandly duties?"
Chun Li blushed as to what Amy was asking. "AMY! That's personal!"
Of course, Chun Li knew that a pair of handcuffs were also useful for some things other than arresting people, as she and Ryu found out, as many times as Chun Li and her husband made sweet, gentle love...or in some cases, Ryu banging her until the floorboards gave way.
'At least married life isn't boring, that's for sure,' Chun Li thought.
Both Ryu and Chun Li were made for each other. They were both joined at the heart, and occasionally...at the loins. Their friends and those that come close to family knew it. Like any married couple, they had their arguments and disagreements, but then again marriages weren't perfect and required practice.
"He is just perfect," Chun Li replied. "He may act dense sometimes on certain things, but there is nothing that he wouldn't do for me. It's just the simple things that he do that makes me smile..."
Chun Li then leaned up against the file cabinet as she suddenly felt woozy. Amy noticed the change in her friend's stance. "Hey, Chun Li, are you okay?"
Chun Li waved her off. "I'm...I'n fine. Just a bit tired, I guess. I need to sit down..."
As Chun Li walked over to her desk, the world through her eyes became hazy and more blurred. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head as she collapsed to the floor, knocking over several folders from a desk as she fell.
In an instant, Amy was crouching over her friend. "Chun Li? Are you okay!" Amy felt for a pulse. There was one, but the most unusual thing was that she was hot to the touch, as if she had a fever. She immediately got on the phone and called for an ambulance. When the ambulance was on the way, she then placed a call to Chun Li's husband.
-Ansatsuken Dojo/Ryu and Chun Li's Home, Sora Village, Japan-
Inside the Ansatsuken Dojo, they were at it again.
Brother and sister were having their sparring session, as they always had. Ryu Hoshi was dressed in his usual white gi and red hachimaki, while Miya Hoshi was dressed in a black tanktop and black hakama split pants.
The match was interrupted when Ryu's ward/Ansatsuken apprentice, Sakura Kasugano came running into the dojo. "Ryu! Chun Li's in the hospital!"
That caught Ryu's attention. "She's WHERE?"
Miya turned to Sakura. "Is she all right?" she asked, worried about her sister-in-law.
"They said she passed out," Sakura replied. "She's on her way to the hospital!"
Miya turned to her brother. "Come on. I'll drive."
-Tokyo General Hospital, about 30 minutes later...-
Ryu ran into the emergency room, Miya and Sakura close behind him. Ryu looked around and recognized Amy. At the same time, Amy looked up and saw who he was. "Hey! You're Ryu, right? Chun Li's husband?"
Ryu nodded. "I am. Where is she?"
Amy led Ryu down the corridor. "Follow me."
The Interpol agent led the Japanese fighter down the corridor. When they reached the room where Chun Li was in, they found a surprise waiting for them.
"I said I'm fine!" Chun Li said as she hopped from the exam table. "I just had a fainting spell, that's all."
Ryu ran into the room. "Chun, are you okay? Your friend called me from the dojo, and--"
Chun Li cut him off. "It was nothing, Ryu. I just had a dizzy spell and got a bit lightheaded."
Ryu didn't buy that. Instead, he cupped his wife's face with both hands, feeling her temperature. 'She's hot,' he noted, 'but she doesn't look sick.'
Then another thought came into his mind. 'It can't be...can't be possible...could she have the Dark Hadou?'
He pushed that throught out of his mind as Chun Li removed his hands from her face. "I said I'm fine. I've just overworked myself, that's all. Let's just go home, okay?"
She then grabbed her jacket and walked out, Ryu following close behind her. He had felt her aura. It was...dark. And evil.
His eyes widened at the instant recognition of the aura.
It was the Dark Hadou...and Chun Li had it.