Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Chap. 43

After about two months of solitary travel, Ryu had now reached India. It has been a couple of months since he last visited, probably the shortest amount of time he remembered on which he had returned to a place after visiting. He hadn't expected to return so soon, but given what happened, he felt that he had to. Rose's words had still left him mystified, even now. He thought he would be able to sort through it and figure out what she may have meant, but so far, nothing.

'Fight with my soul...? What did she mean...?'

Ultimately, Ryu decided to seek the sage advice of his Indian friend. As a former teacher, Dhalsim always seemed to know how to reach the depth of matters regarding the mind. What made his way unique was that oftentimes, he would only ask questions and allow a student to come up with the answer on their own. He never gave a direct answer, but he never has to.

"You already know the answer. It's the question that eludes you..."

At the moment, that was exactly the case. He didn't even know why it disturbed him so much. 'Fight with my soul... What did that even mean? Why...?'

His thoughts came to a standstill, as the presence of an immortal flooded his senses. Ryu blinked in half-surprise. He had yet to reach the yoga master's residence so unless he was traveling around town, it couldn't have been him. The only other answer was that there was another immortal about. Ryu automatically became defensive, although his pace of walking and breathing hadn't changed. He didn't expect a fight, but confrontations were just as dangerous. Turning around a corner, Ryu's eyes widened into complete surprise.

"Sakura?"

The younger immortal, who had been looking for the immortal that she sensed as well, mirrored his surprised expression. "Ryu-sensei? It is you!"

Rushing over to him from across the way, Sakura quickly clasped her arms around him in a tight embrace. As if Ryu couldn't be any more surprised, this open display showed him otherwise. Still, it was Sakura after all. Despite her age, she somehow still found the time and moment to act like an adolescent.

"Oh!" Breaking away, Sakura stepped back with an embarrassed smile and bowed her head. "It's good to see you again, Ryu-sensei."

'Now she acts formal...' he thought, lightly shaking his head with a small smile. Nevertheless, he returned the gesture shortly before meeting her eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was visiting a friend. She lives in the area."

A few hours ago...

Standing out from the buildings of the town, a large mansion stood a good distance away. Within one of the rooms in this mansion, a young woman stood aloft on a balance beam, her figure straight and arms to the side. Taking a breath, she took a step forward and cart wheeled forward, gracefully spinning atop the beam without any evidence of a mishap. She did this repeatedly, ultimately nearing the end where she rushed faster and flipped off the board and into the air. Her hair, tied in a ponytail, wisped through the air and she flew and touched down to the mat below, effortlessly landing on her feet.

"Looking good, Pullum."

Lifting up, the woman turned around with a surprised smile. "Sakura? Sakura!"

Rushing across the mat, Pullum met Sakura with a friendly embrace to which the Sakura returned. Pullum pulled back, smile beaming across her face as they moved across the mat.

"Wow, how long has it been? What brings you around this way?"

"Oh I just thought I'd stop by and visit, since I was in the neighborhood."

The dark-skinned woman lifted a skeptical eyebrow to her. "Oh really?"

"Yeah." When Pullum's expression didn't change... "Well, sort of." Still no change... "Okay, I just wanted to visit."

That took the look off of her face and she smiled again. "Well, it's good to see you again. Now I can have a little fun for a change."

"Hold on there." Sakura said, holding up her hands in mock display. "The last time you said that, we got into a lot of trouble. We were lucky you were the princess of the royal state, otherwise that would have gotten worse."

"Hey, I didn't hear you complain." Pullum retorted. "Besides, you're...well, you know. I knew if anything went wrong, you'd be able to bail me out."

"I think you overestimate my abilities." Sakura then sighed. "Either that or you were really trying to push your luck."

"Either way, you didn't complain. And you had fun, admit it."

"Fine, fine. I admit it." It was then that the Japanese immortal blinked and looked around, in a bit of confusion. "Hey, where's your muscle-bound shadow?"

"Darun? Oh, he's in the training room. But I don't think he's in the social mood, at least not yet."

The sadness of her voice and face immediately told Sakura that something was wrong. Like her, Darun was an immortal and the sworn bodyguard of Pullum (of the entire family line really, but that's another story). Because of this, he was always seen by her side. Until now. Sakura hadn't even realized that she hadn't sensed him when she entered the room to begin with. This wasn't good.

"What happened?"

"So you came here to see a friend too. Wow, what are the odds?"

On the dirt road just outside of town, Ryu and Sakura walked together en route to Dhalsim's monastery sanctuary. It was open country so there weren't that many people around as the two immortals conversed together. It always seemed unusual for Ryu to be at peace with something that didn't necessarily revolve around fighting or training. But he didn't complain. There were time when he simply missed the company of others and it was times like this that made him forget his troubles, even if only for a brief time.

Besides, Sakura's cheery attitude made it hard to remember sometimes...

They finally reached the monastery where the Dhalsim resided, but as they approached, both exchanged an expression of puzzlement, more so on Ryu's end, for neither of them could sense either the presence or the ki of the yoga master. This confusion grew as they entered the dwelling and only found one of the other monks there.

"Excuse me?" Ryu questioned the monk. When he stopped, Ryu continued. "Where is monk Dhalsim?"

The monk shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no one knows. A week ago, he spoke of going on a journey, but he didn't say where."

"I...see..."

Sakura turned Ryu. "I thought you said that he never leaves this place."

"For as long as I've known him, he hasn't." Ryu answered. Even before Ryu met him, it was well known to the inhabitants that Dhalsim never left the area. He always said that it was his duty to stay and protect this place. For him to leave must have taken nothing short of extraordinary.

"What could have caused him to leave?"

The monk lowered his head solemnly. "I don't know. But this place feels hollow without the master here."

"That it does..."

Pain...

How long has it been going on? He didn't know. But it consumed his every waking moments. He didn't know where he was, or who he was. It would start off the same. There would be darkness, void. But when the pain came, it was always different. Sometimes, his head would be wracked with such pain to the point where he felt like it would explode. Then there were times when parts of his body would be stabbed or sliced repeatedly, while he would try in vain to escape it. But the more he struggled, the more it hurt. And then there were times when it felt like his entire body burned from the inside out. He would scream, hoping to be heard and have his torment end, but that was never the case.

It only made the pain worse...

It seemed to be endless. He didn't understand why he was still alive. He didn't understand what was happening to him or why it was happening. He didn't even understand who was doing this to him, although there were time were he saw a visage of its face. It was a face of malevolence, someone who not only didn't care what happened to him, but actually reveled in watching his suffering.

Watching with a demonic gaze...

It was at such times that he hoped that he would see the void again, just so he wouldn't have to feel the pain. In the darkness, there was no pain, no suffering, nothing. Nothing to remind him of his torment. And it was the only thing he had now, the only thing he could look forward to.

And the pain came again...

"You're disappointed, more so than you would normally be."

Ryu looked at her briefly as the two made their way down the road from the monastery. His gaze was evenly met by a half-worried, half-inquiring look in the eyes of the woman immortal. She had been around him long enough to tell his moods, so he wasn't too surprised that she was able to pick up on his mood.

"Honestly, I came here to seek his advice on a matter, hoping he could help."

The inquiring half began to win over, albeit subtly. "Oh?"

Head lowering slightly, Ryu began to explain; his eyes downcast. "Something happened a while back, something that has been on my mind since."

Sakura waited to hear more, but when Ryu stopped talking and gave no evidence that he was going to start up again, Sakura then switched to worried. Ryu wasn't exactly the open-up-to-anyone type and there were times when Sakura really wished she knew what he was thinking, just so that she could help him if she could. But years of solitude and battle could do that to a person, so she understood why he was that way.

"It must be a serious matter if you came to seek a friend's advice."

"Mmhm…" Ryu lifted his head and focused on the road ahead. "But for whatever reason he left, it must have been very important. I hope that his journey is a success."

Sakura smiled at this, knowing that her former teacher was just working to dispel the disappointment he was feeling. But she wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. "And what about you, Ryu-sensei?"

"I...I am honestly unsure."

Sakura sighed partly and then blinked thoughtfully in reply. "Well then, how would you like to travel with me for a bit? I'm heading up to Moscow to visit another friend." She stopped speaking for a moment and Ryu looked to see her face saddening a bit as she continued. "Actually, it's kind of a condolence call really."

"Hm?"

"My friend's father...adopted father, was killed some time ago." She shut her eyes briefly. "He was one of us."

"Oh." Ryu whispered in understanding.

"You might have heard of him." she continued, her voice lifting out of its saddened state. "He was nicknamed the Red Cyclone of Russia."

Upon hearing this, Ryu froze in his tracks, his eyes wide with shock. Sakura stopped a step later to look at him and only then did she realize that her question had been answered.

"Zangief...? He's dead?"