So, the war has been won. But, now it is time for the wrap up! I'm going to have a bit of a long thank you at the end of this so read on and stay tuned for the thank you at the end. Now, on with the conclusion of "Hearts & Fists."

Chapter 11

Chun-Li was trying not to worry but she couldn't help it. She hadn't heard from Ryu or Cammy in hours, almost a full day. Night had descended on Tokyo again. She looked out of her window at the night sky and the city lights, praying that everything was okay. Several fears did enter her mind, though; she worried that Guerrilla got the better of Ryu, that she would never see Mei again, never meet and get to know Chow, and that Ryu would have died trying to save them both. It was all too much to think about. It was all, quite honestly, starting to scare her.

Her door opened.

Chun-Li turned her head to see her adopted daughter standing in the doorway.

Instantly, tears formed in her eyes. Chun-Li took a sharp breath. "Mei?"

"Mommy?"

From out of nowhere, Chun-Li found the strength to sit up as Mei came running toward her. They embraced, both of them having tears fall from their eyes.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Chun-Li whispered. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too."

Chow walked in next.

Chun-Li looked up at him and smiled. "So…" She sniffed. "You must be the cause of all this problem."

He chuckled. "Yeah… that would be me." He walked up and shook her hand. "Pleasure to meet you… sister."

She nodded right back at him. "Same here."

Cammy walked in next followed by Ken.

"Ken. I should've known."

"Well, yeah!" Ken smiled. "Ya know I couldn't miss this."

Then, much to Chun-Li's surprise, Sagat walked in.

"Sagat?" Chun-Li asked. "What are you…"

"Ryu got a hold of me… just before Guerrilla did," Sagat explained. "Via Cammy, of course. He had a good plan."

With everything going on, Chun-Li had actually forgotten Ryu said he had a plan. "What plan?"

"Well… basically, he made it so we'd find out exactly where Guerrilla was because he wore a tracker and Sagat secretly got us the location, as well," Cammy explained. "We snuck the tracker onto to Ryu when he boarded the plane here on his way to Somalia. Wasn't easy. Ryu couldn't know who was bugging him and we couldn't follow him to make sure everything would go okay for fear Guerrilla would have him monitored. Same for Sagat. We couldn't make any move until both signals were coming from the same place. Once we narrowed them both down, though, we went in. Ryu also had Sagat put on a bit of a show until we go there, at the cost of Ryu being roughed up a little. But, all's well that ends well, then."

Ken chuckled. "Who'd thunk it, huh? Ryu outsmarted a supervillain."

Sagat folded his arms. "I'd be lying if I said Ryu didn't impress me this time around."

Chun-Li was still confused at Sagat's involvement in this. "And you helped him because…?"

"Paths of vengeance aren't worth it, I've learned. I have done and are continuing to do everything I can to stay on a more honorable path. That… and I do find Guerrilla a particular brand of despicable."

"Oh." Chun-Li looked behind them. "And Ryu?"

Ken, Cammy, and Sagat smiled. They stepped out of the way to show a bandaged Ryu walk in and lean against the door frame. He was smiling.

Chun-Li smiled. "Thank you…"

He nodded.

The following morning, Chun-Li woke up to find Mei asleep in a chair in hospital room. Cammy put herself, Ryu, Ken, Sagat, and Chow in a hotel for the night. The amount of relief she felt that Mei was safe could not be measured. It was such a liberation to know that this nightmare had finally come to an end. She looked around when she heard the door quietly open. Ryu came in.

"Hey," he greeted.

She smiled. "Hi." They spoke softly as to not wake up the little girl.

He quietly closed the door behind him. He walked over to brown haired woman. "You okay?"

"Much better. Thanks."

"Can you move much more?"

"Are you kidding? When Mei walked in, I almost flew out of this bed."

"Good to hear."

She stared at him, admiringly. "Ryu… thank you."

"You don't have to thank me."

"Yes, I do."

They both were quiet for a while.

"You're leaving… right?"

Ryu looked at her. "Yeah. Me and Ken have something to go take care of."

"I understand. I really do. I can't thank you enough for everything."

"It's not a good-bye, Chun-Li."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like I told you: I'll be back."

She smiled. She nodded.

He walked over her and took hold of her hand.

Neither of them said anything. They just smiled at one another. He let go of her hand and headed out of the door, Chun-Li didn't miss him as he left. She believed he'd be back. Eventually.

Two days later.

Ryu and Ken stood at the grave of their master, Gouken. They had just finished their usual ritual of respect they always performed when came to their former dojo. They bowed then rose up.

"What a few days you've had," Ken pointed out.

"Yeah," Ryu replied.

"So, what did you want to talk about? And what was so important that we had to come here to do it?"

Ryu paused for a second as he thought about the question. "A life choice."

"A life choice? Like what?"

He looked at Ken, smiled, and looked back at the grave. "There is a new journey I want to take… that I'm about to take. Just looking for a little guidance. And your advice."

Ken's curiosity piqued. "For…"

"It's… this whole thing with me and Chun-Li."

"Oh, did she finally tell you she liked ya?"

Ryu didn't realize Ken's statement at first. "No, she…" He realized what Ken said and looked up surprised. "You knew?"

Ken chuckled. "Oh, gimme a break, Ryu. It wasn't that hard to tell. Shoot! She's liked for a long time I'd bet."

Ryu shrugged, "Actually… she said she loves me…"

Ken stopped. He was at a loss for words. That news was shocking. "Whoa."

"Yep."

They both stood silent for a long time before continuing the conversation.

"So… so…" Ken said, "whacha gonna do?"

"It's why I'm here. Just lookin' for a little guidance."

"For what?"

Ryu smiled. "For going to China… to stay."

Ken was surprised, his eyes growing wide. Then… he smiled.

"I can't deny that Chun-Li has always been a remarkable woman. I've always… admired her… found her beautiful… but… never thought of her… in that way. I mean, I've never thought of anyone that way. I never even thought of myself as anyone anybody could love."

"So you're doing this 'cause she said it first?"

"No. I'm doing it because…" He smiled. "…because… I can't stop thinking about her. Can't stop how I'm feeling about her. She's been on my mind… for a long time, now."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Stop it."

"Just saying, just saying."

Ryu sighed. "I have to see where this goes, Ken. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. But I have to try." He paused for a minute. "Am I crazy?"

"Oh, yeah." Ken playfully hit him on the arm. "AND I LOVE IT!"

"I keep forgetting how loud you are."

"Deal with it… because this is great!"

"Why?"

"Are you serious? Come on, man! I think you need this! Not for Chun-Li but for you. I mean, for both of you. You both need to do this. You both are so dedicated to fighting you forget that there's more to life. I say this is a chance you gotta take."

"Maybe…" Ryu looked back at the grave marker. "But… it'll be the first time I've done something like this. And… it's a major decision. One way or the other… life will never be the same. I just wish I knew that… that what I want to do… is alright… that it's okay…"

He felt a sudden gust of wind. Leaves breezed toward the grave marker of their master before they blew up in the air, drawing the best friends' attention to the sun shining through the trees. The leaves spread out through the air until they were out of sight.

Subtle though it was, there was Ryu's answer.

Ken smiled. "I think Master beat me to the answer."

Ryu smiled as well.

"And it's true. Look, maybe you go and things don't work it. By the way, that's so not going to happen. Just had to say that to… you know, cover my best friend bases."

Ryu scoffed.

"But maybe you go… and you guys work everything out and live a great life… together. And there's no maybe to that. Like told you… you and her…" He held up two fingers, "two of a kind. I was just waiting on both of you to realize it."

Ryu chuckled, shaking his head.

"Trust me. Trust yourself, man. It's your life and I'm still trying to figure out times you made wrong decisions."

"I'm just worried this will be one."

Ken patted his best friend's shoulder, "It won't."

Ryu looked back at the marker. He knew what he wanted to do and he was ready to do it.

They both bowed before the grave marker again. "Thank you, Master," they both said.

They rose. Ryu picked up his duffle bag and they started to walk off. Ryu stopped and looked back at the grave. "I promise I'll come back and visit. We promised to fight here anyway." He looked at his best friend, "I hope you don't mind waiting on that, either."

"Nah. We can duke it out, anytime. I'll know where ta find ya, now."

With that, Ryu and Ken started to make their way off the mountain.

"Speaking of which, still got your phone?" Ken asked.

Ryu reached into his bag and pulled out the cell phone.

"Dang! Thought for sure you'd lost it by now."

Ryu chuckled, "Yeah."

Five days later.

Chun-Li sat in her chair on her patio at home while Mei trained in the yard. She was reading a letter from her brother about cooperating with Interpol and giving all the evidence he needed. He also said that with the way everything was working out, he should be able to come and visit her soon. She had also heard from Cammy that they were able to locate a good portion of Guerrilla's network, thanks in part to Markway and Santos giving up plenty of information. Though they may not get everyone, Cammy assured Chun-Li all of the people who were following the former Interpol agent had been dealt with. Chun-Li and her family were safe. Chun-Li looked up at the sky and the white clouds scattered about, reflecting on everything that just happened and being grateful it was over.

Well, unbeknownst to her, not entirely over. But in a good way.

As Mei was practicing, she looked up to see someone approach. She smiled.

Chun-Li was still looking at the sky when the person walked up to her.

"Excuse me?" a familiar voice asked her.

She gasped. Then smiled. She looked up to see the white ki garbed, red bandanna wearing warrior standing there. "Yes?"

Ryu set his duffle bag down on the ground. "I was wondering… how many students do you take on to train at one time?"

"Well… as many as I can handle but my students are usually children, I'm sorry to say. Not much I can teach adults."

"I don't know about that."

She turned her in her chair to face him. "You seem to know quite a bit. You're quite the legendary fighter, I hear."

He chuckled. "A person can always learn more. Never stop learning, my master once told me. Be it martial arts or life lessons."

"What could I teach a world class warrior like yourself?"

He shrugged. "What it's like to stay in one place for longer than a few days… to have a home…" He stopped and swallowed, nervously, "…and to show someone who loves me… that I love her."

Her eyes widened. She stood up. She stared into his eyes. "What makes you think I know anything more about that last part than you?"

He took hold of her hand. "Maybe we can learn… together."

She tried to keep tears from falling but failed. "You really want to… don't you?"

"Yes. I do."

She lifted up on her toes to kiss him, only for him to meet her halfway. That surprised her but it was a welcome surprise. They kissed for a few minutes. They pulled back, Chun-Li stroking Ryu's face with her thumb. "You know you could've just come out and said 'I love you.'"

He chuckled. "Not exactly the easiest thing for me to come out and say."

"That's alright. You'll just have to stay around here long enough to learn how to come out and say it."

"I can do that."

She did have one last question. "So… how long can you stay?"

"Hard to say. How about… for as long as you want me here?"

"That could be… a really long… long… long time…" She smiled.

He smiled right back. "That's just fine with me."

And, ladies and gentlemen, is that. I hope you guys liked it. I just really want to say... guys, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. When I was having horrible personal days, you guys cheered me up with your reading, your favorites, your adding me and this story to your alerts, and your reviews. It all meant so much to me and just thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Now, I don't want to be mean, but there are some down right loyal reviewers that I just gotta thank and they are alwaysdoubted, 89niners-best-team-ever, fataliT428, James Birdsong, and Ryan The Game Master. You guys... I can't thank you enough. And that's not to say all of you who just read the story and put it on your alert or put me as your favorite author wasn't grand, I just don't have the list of all of you right nearby. But everyone, EVERYONE, THANK YOU SO MUCH! God bless you all! And see the next time around.

And, by the way, if you guys demand it (because you've earned the right to do so), I will, you have my word, do a sequel to this story. I hope all of you continue to stay with me as I have more writings come down the pipe. Thank you again. Love you all! And I mean that! Love you guys!