Disclaimer: See chapter one

Chap. 11

"You call this shopping?"

Sakura and Ryu were browsing through a small town not to far from the dojo. Ryu was looking for some minor equipment and provisions to buy while Sakura seemed a little antsy.

"I never said anything about shopping Sakura." Ryu answered back. "I just needed to pick up a few things."

"But still, couldn't we have picked it up in Shinjuku? Or maybe even Tokyo?"

Ryu shook his head, "Sakura, you know that nothing I need is there. Besides, this is closer."

The young immortal pouted, "But there's nothing here. No clothes, no wardrobe, not even a decent pair of shoes."

Ryu shook his head again. Even though he had trained Sakura to survive without such things, she still felt the need to have them. 'What is it with women and shopping?' he pondered.

"Wait, I think I see something." she said suddenly. Rushing away to what looked like a nearby clothing stand; she briefly stopped and turned back.

"Be right back." she winked before running off again.

Ryu watched as she ran away. 'Sometimes, I think she has too much energy.' He shrugged to himself and prepared to move off when he felt a sudden change in the wind. And something...an immortal.

As soon as that thought enter his mind, everything suddenly went black. Ryu blinked in surprise, but remained still as the void suddenly changed into some sort of weird scene. Splashes of violet, pink and other colors seemed to be all over the place. From out of the weird scenery, a form began to take shape. It converged and began to shape itself into a female form. Then the colors shifted and Ryu was faced with a woman. She had purple hair and deep eyes of the same color. She was dressed strangely, with a yellow scarf around her back and neck.

"Who...are you?"

The woman smiled briefly, "How about a duel first, Ryu?"

Ryu looked down to see that she was holding a short sword, split in the center giving it the appearance of being two looked at his hand to see that his own blade seemed to appear out of nowhere. Leaving his questions for later, Ryu steadied his blade in order to face this strange woman. The woman however, made no stance and simply held the blade downward. Ryu frowned inwardly and then made the move to attack, slashing forward. In that instant, the woman raised her blade and parried the attack.

Ryu twirled in order to keep from being unguarded and struck again. But the woman again moved, blocking the attack. Finally, she flashed her blade downward, clashing with his loudly and forcing it down. But Ryu was far from finished as he slipped his blade away, stepped back and lunged forward. The woman jumped back and out of the reach of the blade and slashed out sideways. Ryu ducked the attack and slashed upward vertically. The blades clashed again and remained locked. The woman smiled lightly again and pulled away. Ryu readied to fight again, but the woman lowered her blade and it vanished away.

"For a youth, you are quite strong. My name is Rose."

Ryu stood up straight and lowered his blade, "What do you want with me?"

The woman strode over to Ryu and waved her hand. A set of card materialized before her and she picked one.

"Heart of Knight." she said as she showed him the card. "This shows great potential, but great pain as well. Many may see this as a mixed blessing and curse. But for you, I see this as hope. For all of us."

Ryu blinked, "All of us?"

Rose continued, "Ryu. I have searched for one like you for a long time now. Almost two thousand years to be exact."

'2000 years?' As far as he knew, he never met any immortal of that age. Many were older than him, but not by that much. 'She must be powerful.'

Rose broke his thoughts, "But even so, you must do more. Your strength alone will not be enough." The remaining cards disappeared, leaving just the one card. "You must learn to fight...with your soul."

"My...soul?"

The scene began to turn dark and Rose's image began to fade away. "Watch out for 'that man.' In time, he will come for you and you must be ready."

Her form completely disappeared, leaving only the darkness and her voice.

"Goodbye Ryu. Perhaps, we will meet again." it echoed.

"Ryu?"

"Huh?" Ryu blinked and found himself right back where he started in the selling area. The sword he held was now gone as well. Sakura was standing before him with a strange look on her face. Ryu frowned somewhat.

"Sakura?"

"Did you just zone out?" Sakura questioned. "That's certainly new."

"I was...never mind." He thought it best not to tell her of his encounter with Rose. Mostly because he wasn't sure if it really happened. He shrugged casually, "I guess my mind did wander a bit."

Sakura continued to look at him strangely, but let it go, "Well, let's head back before you do something else weird."

The two immortals then left to head back to the dojo. But some few feet away, a figure stood by, watching them. The figure lifted a camera took a shot of the two before disappearing into the crowd, but not before his arm swayed, showing a strange blue tattoo on it.

Russia

Within a sealed dome in the cold weather, crowds of people were gathered inside. Loud cheers emanated from the crowd as two wrestlers grappled in the center of a ring. One of them was a man of massive frame and build, with several scars across his body. He shoved his opponent across to the ropes and crotched low as his opponent rebounded off the ropes and came back at him. Then with a cry, he shot forward and clotheslines his opponent, causing him to literally spin in the air. The huge wrestler then raised him hand up and the crowd cheered louder. Picking up his opponent, the wrestler turned him upside down and spun into the air. He then plummeted back to the ground, smashing his opponent's head hard onto the mat. Moving away, the wrestler watched as the referee counted. The floored opponent lay motionless as the ref counted to ten, thus ending the match.

"Winner, Zangief!"

Zangief pointed his fingers in the air as the crowds roared in applause. After basking in the crowd's cheers, he exited the arena and headed into the back toward his dressing room. 'Even after all these years, there's nothing like the electricity of the fans.' He quickly packed his things and moved to the exit. But as he moved to leave the area, a tremor hit him, halting his movement. Shutting his eyes briefly, he reached into his bag and pulled out a wrapped object. He then began to move out into the darkness outside. As he walked, he slowly unwrapped the object, which turned out to be a massive scimitar. Its double-jagged edge poked out sharply as Zangief continued his walk. He then stopped abruptly.

"Have you come for me?"

Turning around, he faced a dark visage. His eyes seemed to flare in the shadows and his muscled hand wielded a black katana, which seemed to still be stained with dry remnants of blood. Even when faced with this demonic creature, the Russian immortal was unafraid as he readied his own blade.

"Fine. I'll end this quickly."

The dark warrior suddenly vanished into the shadows. Zangief stepped back and stood ready for any attack. Then, with the reflexes that belittled a tiger, he swung around, catching the enemy blade as it came to him. Zangief then pushed back and swung his sword out. The dark one blocked, but the force of the strike was too much and he was shoved back. He then took to the air and shot down from it. Zangief raised his blade and blocked the strike. But the dark warrior flipped off and touched the ground. Zangief was a little confused until he realized what happened. His blade had been cracked slightly.

'What?'

The dark warrior attacked again and Zangief defended himself from the strike. They went on in a deadly dance as the blades clashed with one another repeatedly. Zangief was forced not to defend too much and stuck to evasion. But given his size, it was challenging. By cracking the blade, the dark one hit Zangief's strongest area and left him unable to attack as much. Zangief finally managed to parry one of his attacker's blows and sent him stumbling sideways.

'Time to end this. Lariat!'

Zangief stuck his blade out and spun around rapidly like a top, almost catching the dark one's head. Almost...

"Shosui!"

Zangief had found out too late that the dark warrior didn't stumble, but had merely ducked down in order to attack. The dark one shot upward and shattered Zangief's blade while he was still spinning. And if that wasn't enough, the dark blade continued to rise, silently severing Zangief's head from its neck. The massive frame of the once powerful Zangief slumped to the ground as the dark warrior landed as well. The shards of his opponent's weapon fell like rain as the energies of the Quickening took effect. The dark one roared as the power of his opponent filled him. Beneath him, a trail of fire burned into a strange symbol and a sudden wave of fire erupted around him. Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The dark warrior didn't fall however and simply turned around and walked away, leaving behind only two things.

The dead body of his victim and the charred remains of the kanji symbol 'TEN'...

"There can be only one."

England

Ken entered the large hall of the monastery church. Light glistened in from the colorful glass fragments around him. As he continued on, he took notice of the people around him. Some were in prayer while others where carrying out some task. Ken took a seat a few rows from the front. As he sat, he looked around at the platforms and the building itself. The place was far older than he was. He suddenly felt the tremor of an immortal, but didn't move. This place was holy ground and now immortal would dare fight here. Besides, he knew who it was.

"This place hasn't changed at all."

A figure sat beside him. According to the form, it was female. She was dressed in black and white clothes and her head was covered in a small hood.

"No it hasn't. We may be immortals, but I think this place is eternal."

Ken smiled as he faced the nun beside him. She turned to face him as well, her child-like face and light-colored eyes marked by a light scar etched on the side.

"Hi Cam."