Le Van Tam Park, Saigon
"KIKOKEN!"
BLAST!
BLOCK!
"Seriously?"
STRIKE!
DUCK!
"Yeah."
STRIKE! STRIKE!
BLOCK!
"They made you beat up a car in order for them to test your strength?"
"Oh, yeah. SPINNING BIRD KICK!"
STRIKE! STRIKE!
DUCK!
"What I would have done to see the insurance papers on that: 'I left my car in the parking lot for five minutes and when I came back, this woman with steel bracelets in her hands started beating it within an inch of its life until nothing was left, not even the license plate."
The Interpol agent could not have help but chuckle a little with a light roll of her eyes.
"Oh, be quiet, you."
"For my eternal amusement and your partial annoyance, never."
STRIKE!
DUCK!
BLAST!
It was the start of the early night since they had finished dinner, and they figured why not burn it all off with a light spar at the park while Chun-Li continued on her exploits at the World Warrior Tournament to Khai. It was a Friday that night so visitors were less packed, but the ones that did come were treated to a small spectacle from the two and it was not long before a few cheers cried out, claps rung and pictures were taken, not that Khai or Chun-Li minded in the slightest as they were more focused on the tale.
Up until the inevitable conclusion it was about to reach.
"And after all of that, all the colorful opponents you have defeated and various battlegrounds across the world… you faced him for the first time."
The Interpol agent nodded glumly, clearly not wanting to bring him up anymore than she needed, but she had as her attacks began to slow down the same as Khai.
"M. Bison, the leader of Shadaloo, the one to have orchestrated the entire World Warrior Tournament."
A slight pause from Chun-Li, followed by a sullen fall of her dull eyes.
"And the man who killed my father."
The moc tinh's horns fell down instantly at the mortifying news, his heart splintering at the fact that she had to go through such a horrible thing in her family.
"Oh, Chun-Li…"
There was no point in continuing anymore.
His attack position dropped as he slowly made his way towards her and gently held his hand around her shoulders, making her look up to his white eyes with her defeated brown ones and her arms hanging by her side. He turned to the small crowd that had been surrounding them for the past couple of hours and gave a short nod, signaling their mildly dissatisfied but eventual dispersing as he lead her down the stone steps of the park's square for a seat, a rooted hand still placed on her shoulder as she stared at him in momentary silence.
"I can not imagine what must have been going through your mind when you learned of that."
The Interpol agent cupped her own hand over his, touched by his desire to see her sorrows be put at ease even though it did not do anything to take away the rising pain and grief that was growing inside of her as of this moment.
"I've spent so many years searching for him. Looking for clues, hints, anything at all in hopes that he might still be alive somewhere, anywhere. Only to learn of his death and to hear it from the bastard that killed him straight from the murderer's mouth."
Her free hand clenched tightly, all of her bottled up anger and frustrations channeled into the fist she had formed, eyes turning up and staring down the long stretch of the park leading up to the square, as if the monster who murdered her father was standing right in front of her, armed cross and a deviously smug grin staring down at her as he floated in that almost demonic red suit and cap of his.
"I wanted to kill him so badly, to break every bone in his inhuman body and make him suffer for what he had done. If not for myself, then for all the people he has killed and hurt in his quest for ultimate power, and so that no one else would have to ever suffer the same pain I went through."
A firm nod from the moc tinh. It was a very simple sentiment for Khai to understand and one he could have easily gotten behind had it not been for his promise to Carrie to stay out of any unnecessary trouble.
"But even as I stood over him, his body beaten and bruised, he wouldn't allow himself to be taken away to face justice for his crimes. He took his own life."
A pause, and a then traumatized stare.
"And nearly took mine and so many others along with it."
Her fist softened and opened into a palm, her finger running gently across the skin, as if to savor the fact that she was still breathing to tell the moc tinh her story.
"But in the end, it was all over. The tournament, Shadaloo, all of it was gone. The ones who were still alive were quickly rounded up while others went on the run, no doubt secretly planning on resurrecting the organization into something else. Something worse."
A haunting thought for Khai to imagine. That somewhere around the world, conspirators could be in the works of bringing together another new world order. But that was for another time to worry about.
Right now, Chun-Li needed him.
"And even with that thought, I can only hope that wherever my father is now, he could finally have peace knowing he had been avenged, at least for the moment."
"You speak very highly of him."
The Interpol agent turned to the librarian with a small smile.
"He was everything to me. Especially after my mother passed away when I was a little girl, he had to put in twice as much in order to raise me into who I am, but I could never thank him enough for the wonderful childhood he had given me when he was still around." Khai gently bowed his head in respect to her reminiscing of the better moments of her early life before looking back to her.
"I assume that it was he who taught you how to fight."
A short nod from Chun-Li.
"It was from him that I learned how to utilize kicks into my fighting style." Khai hummed in acknowledgment.
"I see, and the ax kicks?"
"Yep."
"The anti-gravity helicopter kicks?"
"Spinning bird kick, but yeah, that too."
"The ki energy projectiles?"
"That, he didn't teach. I learned it with the help of an old family friend when I went out to look for him after he disappeared, although I think he had also passed on as well."
The moc tinh looked away from her for a moment, his mind mildly mixed in emotion. It was very clear to him that Chun-Li's father has had a very positive impact on her and then some. Her poised posture, steeled demeanor and unwavering devotion towards the path of justice had absolutely no bounds to speak of, and he could not have been any more grateful to have been able to meet and know her in the short time that they have because of him.
She had a wonderful gift to have had him as long as she did.
"Your father sounded like he was a great man. I think I would have liked to meet him."
The Interpol agent smiled warmly at Khai's praise to her late father, but her smile soon turned into a small frown as she picked up the mildly saddened tone in his voice as she told her this, along with an equally sad idea in her head as she gently grabbed his attention with his hand held in her own.
"Khai… you're not just saying that because of what I think you are implying, are you?"
The librarian slowly tilted his head to her and even as his horns had fallen loosely down his back and would have easily given her the signal already, it was his face that really clutched at her heart.
Three completely empty and soulless hollows staring sullen back at her with not a single pure white unblinking eye occupying any of them. Just three dark holes voidless of any brightness and shine staring back at her without any readable emotions any regular person would have been able to read.
But for someone like Chun-Li, she knew the face of sadness whenever she saw it regardless of species, and in her eyes, this was probably the most broken she had ever seen Khai been in her life.
"Oh, Khai…" her soft thumb gently raked over his bark-layered fingers. "I'm so sorry."
A single white eye slowly glowed into the central hollow in his face as he nodded softly at her consolation for him.
"Do not be. It was not like my family and I exactly saw everything eye to eye." he was quick to note the curious look forming on her face after that.
"How did it happen?"
Well, she was kind enough to tell her tragedy, it was only fair that he followed up with his as well.
"It was around the mid sixties. The US-backed Southern government was proven to be highly unpopular with the masses and the North was slowly building up its power." the Interpol agent knew well enough of the growing conflict that was happening at the time.
"My parents came from the South, although not from Saigon, and they absolutely hated the regime for its blatant corruption."
"And so they decided to join the North?" the moc tinh shook his head in correction of her assumption.
"Not exactly, but they did aid in guiding soldiers through checkpoints when they came. I was little more than a sapling at the time so I obviously stayed away from all of that while my parents went into the battlefield every morning and every night."
Chun-Li had soft sympathy in her eyes for Khai. It must have been very hard for him when his parents were not around while he grew up.
"Then one day, they left the house… and never came back, and I soon learned that they had accidentally been killed by the very soldiers they were helping to 'liberate' our country."
He turned to meet a shocked stare in Chun-Li's face, her hand cupping onto her mouth as if to hold in a horrified gasp before letting go, the fear in her eyes never leaving.
"My God…" the librarian nodded glumly in return.
"I had to take care of myself after that, and even after the war was over, it was not easy given how most of the country was still in substantial ruin. But eventually, I pulled myself together and found myself in the General Library, where I remained ever since."
A brief pause allowed Khai to breathe a long sigh to let out his bottled pain before turning back to Chun-li, remaining just as silent and stunned as she was when he told her his story, if not for another layer of solemn sadness.
"But even as I mourn the death of the family I never knew too well, I will say that their devotion and sacrifice had one good thing."
"What's that?"
His two remaining eyes filled their hollows and his horns raised as he stared intently at her.
"They allowed me to live long enough to meet you."
To that, Chun-Li could do nothing but to relent her frown for a small and soft smile to form on her lips. Even in grief of their pasts, the present had a strange way of giving them a welcomed surprise when they did not even notice.
She shifted closer to him, her hands wrapped around her knees, and the two simply sat in serene silence at the square of the park, listening only to the sounds of faint chatter chirps from crickets in the grass, and the distant beeps of vehicles on the road.
With only each other to lean on.
—
Gods & Demons around the World - Nghe
If one is ever looking to visit Vietnam, chances are they would probably run into a lot of ancient temples and pagodas, and large ceramic statues of creatures with the heads of dragons standing guard at the front gate. A native mascot to the Vietnamese people, the Nghe is said to be a guardian animal spirit that protects places of worship from evil and demonic spirits. Unlike the Qilin, the nghe does not possess horns although it does wear a mane and body and feet of a dog.
—
Pham Ngu Lao Street, Saigon
The long walk back to Chun-Li's hotel was relatively quiet and uneventful, save for maybe a little chill from the cold of the midnight wind and the occasional hiss and bark of the common stray cat and dog, not that they found a bother about it at all.
For this evening out on the streets was probably the best they had ever had in a very long time, and one that they would not imagine to ever be able to repeat again.
"Thanks again for walking me back to my hotel, Khai. I had a wonderful time tonight." the librarian nodded warmly at Chun-Li.
"It is the least I can do. It can get rather lonely around these parts, even with the lights on." a single lonely motorcycle rode comfortably past them and disappeared down the road as soon as it came, the two paying it no mind continuing along the sidewalk until they reached the cheap, small, cramped prison block of building barely lit by its one functioning neon letter, causing the librarian to tilt his head in slight confusion.
"This is where you have been staying this whole time?" a small and exasperated sigh exhaled from the Interpol agent.
"Yeah, well… I had to stay within some sort of budget and this was the best they had to offer." the librarian made a quick note of that as she turned to him with a gentle grin.
A meek mask to hide the heaviness in her heart.
"Well… I guess this is where we part ways."
Khai's horns seemed to fall a little at that, as if showing some level of sadness that he now had to leave her, but it should not have been anything to him. He had done what he needed to do, so all that was left was to say goodbye to her.
The only woman he had ever learned to fall in love with in his life.
"I… I suppose so." his pure white eyes locked with hers one last time. "Goodnight, Chun-Li."
And with a final nod, he turned on his heels and walked away with his hands held firmly around his back.
Although he did not get very far.
"Wait."
Stopping at the softness of her voice, the librarian slowly turned around to face the Interpol agent.
She was a mere arm's length away from him, her feminine form illuminated from the broken orange light of the lamppost they were standing under as were the soft and simple smile on her lips and her beautiful brown eyes.
The two stepped closer to each other, Chun-Li's hands soon finding themselves gently placed upon and lightly roaming upon the firm, crimson fabric of his ao dai and Khai's roots wrapping around the soft, puffed shoulders of her blue qipao.
For a short moment, neither dared to utter a word, the chilling breeze of the midnight wind being the only sound to break the serene silence between them as they simply stared into each other's eyes, unmoving and unblinking.
"Khai…"
"Chun-Li…"
Their faces were only inches away from each other, their minds running a thousand thoughts at once.
Until finally, without anything else to stand in their way, they closed the gap.
The feeling was certainly a strange one for both of them. Soft gentle lips pressed against hard dead bark was not exactly a commonly ideal experience for a first kiss in the eyes of anyone who had fallen in and out of love before.
But for Khai and Chun-Li, the odd sensation only seemed to drive them even further and her hands begin cupping themselves around the rough scratches of his lower cheeks while his ran around and rested firmly behind his head as the enrapturing euphoria deepened with every passing second, with the two of them praying for it to last just a little bit longer until they could not draw another breath.
And as they eventually broke apart from each other, the sensation lingered still, almost beckoning them to return to it.
"Chun-Li… I-!"
A pair of gentle but firm fingers placed themselves beneath the rim of his hollowed face, a yearning glance present in Chun-Li that grew ever more restless.
"No more words… please."
She released his wooden lip before capturing it again with her own as the two returned to their limitless passion, this time going much slower than the last, determined to savor every last second of the moment before breaking apart again, the two of them leaning in for their foreheads to touch and their eyes gently closed.
A smile lined on Chun-Li's lips and the horns on Khai's head curled in tightly as they held onto each other, never wanting to let the other go as the orange light shined brightly above them.
It had been a rather strange couple of days since the two of them had first met, with neither of them really knowing how they would have become given the odd circumstances that lead to it in the first.
But seeing what it had reaped for them and the things they learned to have within them by the end of it all.
In their eyes, it was all worth it.