By Elaine

"NOOOOO!"

Ryu woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and wildly observed his
surroundings. He was tangled in a green blanket and had somehow
managed to roll under his futon.

Pushing off the mattress with an almost superhuman ease, he stood up and blinked. Was it all
a dream? No, it had been too vivid for that. And he still had
two lumps on his head from Ibuki's slaps, a turkey sized bruise
on his stomach from Cammy's throwing techniques and...he raised
his arm into the light and found some dirty scratches. Amazing.

"So it couldn't have been a dream...but will all the things they
have foretold me come true?" He gulped as he remembered that
particular incident with Rose. "I must amend my ways...before..."
There was a loud knocking on his door.

"Yo, is there a Senior Ryu Hoshi here?"

"That would be me!" He yelled. Ryu ran to the door and opened it.
Who else would he find but Sean, the new Shotokan student. "Sean!
The new Shotokan student!"

Sean waved and smiled. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt and some
yellow jeans. Before, Ryu had always thought of him as looking
like a banana...but today, he was a ray of sunshine...

"What day is today, Sean?" He asked quickly.

"Christmas Day, just like you to not remember..." Sean replied. "Which
is why I came here...I needed to get to the Master's residence and I
don't know where it is. Por fe vor, Senor Ryu...can you show me?"

"YES!" Ryu cried excitedly. "The Christmas Party! I can't miss it!
But first, I must go buy presents!" He took Sean's hand and shook it
wildly, causing the boy to be very, very afraid. "Will you do something
for me Sean?"

"D-depends what it is..." Sean said edgily, trying to remove his hand
from the strong man's fingers. It was impossible.

"I...need you to help me buy Christmas gifts for everyone...I'm
ashamed to say I've never done that before..."

"S-sure...then will you show me the way to the Master's residence?"

"Of course! That's why I need presents! I must give them something..."
He laughed heartily. And then stopped...he had just succeeded in
scaring himself. There's a limit to how merry a normally stoic person
can be. "*ahem* I'll meet you in Times Square at one, alright?"

"Why one?"

"Um...it sounds like a good number," Ryu smiled slightly and scratched
his head. "Well, buy whatever you think my friends would like and I'll
see you later..." He ran off, leaving one very confused Sean standing
in his dust.

"What's gotten into him?" Sean muttered to himself as he trotted away.

*~*~*~

"So much to do, so little time!" Ryu thought to himself as he ran,
"I'm glad I found Sean...now I have to look for Sakura,"

He skidded to a halt in front of the hotel room from last night and
tried to remember which floor Cammy had taken him up to. After having
no luck with locating the room from the inside, Ryu decided to find
it the way he had last night.

By scaling the side of the building. Ryu stepped back and rubbed his hands together. He then proceeded to leap up the building and grabbed one of the ledges before he could
fall. Slowly, he pulled himself up to the first window and looked in.
Quickly, he pulled his head back out, a nose bleed starting.

"A-Ano..." he stammered and moved as quickly as he could away. That
was...gross...He berated himself for having invaded someone's privacy.
Wiping his nose with his sleeve, he thought hard about last night.
Third floor, first window...not first floor, first window...He sighed
and climbed higher.

*~*~*~

Sakura jumped as she heard a knocking on her window. Slowly, she made
her way to the other side of the hotel room and drew back the curtains.
No one...she blinked.

"Nani? Am I starting to hear things?" Nope. The knocking came again.
She pulled back the curtains farther and looked out...only to come
face to face with...

*~*~*~

"YUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ryu yelped and lost hold of
the windowpane, landing with a loud thud on the pavement three
stories below. Thankfully, his trained body was used to falling from
such heights, he remained uninjured. Uninjured...but in pain anyways.

"Owee..."

"Ryu-san?" Sakura called from above. He gave her the thumbs up to
show her he was fine. She hopped out of her window and landed;
and landed beside him.

"Ohayo, Sakura," Ryu greeted, getting up and dusting himself off. He
tried hard to maintain his dignity. "That was quite a jump you just
made,"

"That was quite a fall you just took," She replied. There was a pause.
"Um...what were you doing outside my hotel window?"

"W-well...er..." He grinned sheepishly. "I decided that my behavior
towards you last night was very uncalled for. I shouldn't have lost
my temper,"

"Oh, it's okay, Ryu-san..." Sakura mumbled, suddenly interested in
her shoes. "You were right, I shouldn't bother you like that,"

"No I wasn't,"

"You weren't?"

"Of course not! I'm getting along in my years now and..." He thought
for a moment. That didn't sound right. He started over. "I've been
training for a long time now, and while I still haven't finished, I
do believe I've been getting pretty good..."

"You're the best," She agreed.

"Yes. Well, I thought a lot about last night and well...I wondered why
I couldn't help you out a little as I was training. It's not as if you
were holding me back, or keeping me from anything..."

"S-so..." Sakura's eyes suddenly got very large.

"So...well, I could use a sparring partner to take on the road. And
teaching someone could help me refresh my memory on some of the
philosophies of the Shotokan. And I'd rather die than let that no good
son of a circus monkey Dan even BEGIN to train ANYBODY much less..."

"Um, Ryu-San? You're scaring me..."

He realized he was gritting his teeth and stopped. "Oh, sorry...where
was I? Ah yes...so...after much consideration, I've decided to take
you on as my...student...of sorts," He finished and waited for a
reaction.

Sakura burst into tears.

"Uh, sorry...did I say something wrong?" Ryu asked awkwardly.

"No, Ryu!" Sakura wailed. "I'm just so happy!" She proceeded to
attach herself permanently to him.

"Oh...uh..." Ryu stuttered. "Well, um...I'll meet you at Ken's party
tonight, right? I have to check up on someone right now," He tugged
at her. "So if you don't mind..."

"*sniff* Sorry, meet you there!"

Ryu smiled at her and patted her head before running off into the
crowded streets of Lower Manhattan.

*~*~*~

The Party had been going on for a good thirty minutes now. The year's
latest tunes were blasting through the highest quality speakers anyone
could find. On the buffet table was an enormous selection of foods
ranging from sushi to sirloin steaks, manicotti to man-tou...which was
just perfect for the selection of guests there. Ken himself was
enjoying a Martini on the Rocks with his wife Eliza.

"Hmm, such a wonderful party. Too bad your friend Ryu isn't here..."

"Yeah, well..." Ken frowned. "I wish I could have changed his mind, but
nothing save divine intervention would probably get through that thick
head of his."

There was a sudden scream near the door as someone discovered who was
there...

*~*~*~

"Gah," Ryu responded as Chun Li grabbed him into a bear hug.

"I can't believe you came! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" Chun Li sobbed
happily.

Ryu sighed and hugged her back, wondering what it was that was making
all his women cry.

"Hey, who's at the door, Chun- SWEET JESUS!" Ken's eyes got wide.
"You came Ryu? And in something besides the white gi?" He looked at
the suit Ryu was in. "I-It's not the end of the world is it?"

"No, I don't believe so..." Ryu muttered, prying the hysterical Chun
Li off of him. "Sean helped me pick out the suit..."

"Did hell freeze over?"

"Don't know..."

"Pigs start flying?"

"No, no, no..." Ryu smiled. "I...just had an epiphany, that's all."

"An epiphany!" Chun Li cried. "You showed up for a dance! A Christmas
dance, no less..."

"Yes well...I just went through one of the strangest nights of my
life...and I suppose it put into perspective what my priorities were,"
He smiled. "I...realized that I had forgotten how to live while
learning how to fight. And...I wanted to know what Christmas really
was,"

"So you came here?" Ken laughed and swung his arm over Ryu's shoulder.
"Smart man! We've got to celebrate!" And the two friends led him into
the heart of the party.

*~*~*~

"Wow, so are all celebrations like this?" Ryu asked as he sat down
on a couch of the packed full house.

"If you simplified it, yeah," Chun Li replied, beaming. "Being around
your friends, giving gifts to others," She fingered the necklace he
had gotten her. "And having a good time. Do you remember the parties
Gen-Sifu used to throw?"

"Yeah," Ryu chuckled, at some inner joke. "It seems like just
yesterday,"

"...And one last dance, for all you peeps still here!" DeeJay crooned
from the DJ booth. "This'll be a slow one, to end da Christmas
bonanza, mon!"

Chun Li giggled as the music started beaming. "I...remember I first
met you at one of those dances. Do you? I held out my hand to shake
with you," She held out her hand.

"Yes, I believe I took it," He firmly gripped her.

"And I pulled you onto the dance floor," She tugged and he begrudgingly
got out of his chair. They made their way to the dance floor.

"And you taught me how to dance. Stance 1, 2, 3..." He murmured,
swinging her slowly through the steps.

"Yeah, through all these years, I'd thought you'd forgotten..." She
looked into his eyes for a moment before turning her head and
blushing.

"I almost did,"

"Do you remember what happened after that?"

He frowned in thought. "No...not really...something about plants..."

She giggled and maneuvered her way under a decoration of green leaves
and red berries. "Just like you to think of mistletoes as 'something
about plants'..."

"Mistletoes?" He blinked. "What happened next?"

"Well...I leaned forward, like this..." She brought her face closer
to his.

"...a-and?" He was suddenly unsure of what to do.

"Well," Her sweet perfume wafted around him. "...I waited, and waited
for you to do something..." She pressed her body against his. "But
you just stood there,"

"S-so what did you do?" He shifted and put his arms around her. It
seemed like the natural thing to do, and something inside told him
to follow his instincts.

"Then, all of the sudden, you leaned over and kissed me..." She
nuzzled against him.

"I-I did?" He squeaked.

"Nope, but it would have been nice," She sighed and pulled away.

He pulled her back. "Well then. I suppose I'll have to make up, won't
I?"

"What?" She gasped as he folded her in his arms.

"Merry Christmas, Chun-Li," He murmured, tilting his head and bending
it down to meet hers. He closed his eyes.

"Merry Christmas..."