Hero of Heroes Ch. 12 - Sight Seeing
By Night

Ryu and Chun-Li woke up early in the morning and prepared for the day's activities. While Chun-Li took a shower, Ryu did his usual routine of thumb push-ups in her bedroom. When he finished, he made her bed, and laid out the clothes he would wear. This should be adequate for today.

Suddenly, a figure drying her hair in a towel walked into the room, dressed only in a white bath robe. "It's all yours, Ryu!" she said. Ryu nodded and headed straight for the shower while Chun-Li finished drying her hair and sat down in front of her mirror. She looked at the bed and saw it perfectly made with his clothes evenly organized on top of the sheets. Gosh, he has such good habits! She opened her drawers and pulled out her own clothes she would wear for the day and laid them right next to Ryu's. She let her bath robe slowly fall to the floor, and she snapped her head back, causing her slightly damp hair to whip high into the air. She slowly got dressed a white shirt, small black jacket and blue jeans, and sat down in front of her mirror. Grabbing a brush, she then ran the bristles slowly through her long, smooth hair. She's worn her hair down lately, instead of in her usual buns. She always wore her hair in buns when she was fighting... but recently, she's always worn it down... ever since Ryu arrived.

She took her time with her hair, and continued brushing repeatedly for several minutes. Smiling to herself, she ran a hand through the soft lengths of her long hair, and finished styling it by curling the front bangs. After taking a final look in the mirror, she heard a knock on the door. "Yes, what is it?"

"Have you finished getting dressed, Chun-Li?" Ryu asked from the other side, not wanting to walk in on her like he did early in his visit.

"Yes," Chun-Li answered smiling, "come right in!"

Ryu opened the door and walked in, dressed only with a towel around his waist. Chun-Li gasped briefly and flashed a quick glimpse upon his muscular body. This wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened. After each shower in the morning, he always walked around in just a towel. Ryu didn't seem to mind too much about his modesty, since he believed clothing is only for warmth, not to prevent others from seeing him nude. Ryu walked over to the bed and picked up his clothes and Chun-Li left the room to let him get dressed. She smiled to herself, It's nice to see that he's finally wearing better stuff besides that karate gi all day long!

Ryu emerged from the room about a minute later all dressed and ready to go. He wore his blue, reversible pullover jacket he bought early in his visit, and some jeans. He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and looked at Chun-Li, waiting for her to guide them out. Chun-Li looked back at him and noticed that every day he never dries his hair and finally asked, "Hey, how come you always leave your hair wet every single day? Don't you ever dry it?"

"Oh... well, I've always done it this way. I just leave my hair wet... and let the winds take care of it," he answered in an almost poetic voice.

"Just that makes your hair look the same way each day? Wow..."

"Yes. The elements of nature are a part of my life. I try to use these elements efficiently and use less resources and energy as much as possible."

Chun-Li playfully poked Ryu on the chest, "How environmentally correct of you! And today you'll see more of 'nature's creatures'!"

He returned a smile and asked, "So how are we getting there?"

"Well, we take a gondola up to the mainland. It really has stunning views too!"

"Amazing, such nice ways of transportation."

Chun-Li giggled, "Well, we're wasting time here, let's go grab a bite to eat and go!" Grabbing her purse and a scarf, she took Ryu's arm and opened the door and pulled him out to the hallways.

***

"Such a great mountain... and such a beautiful view of the sea..." Ryu said as he stood, looking out the window of the gondola. The view was absolutely gorgeous. The mountain below them was lush and green and beyond it was the entrance to the amusement park. And below him was an absolutely breathtaking view of the South China Sea.

"Yeah," Chun-Li added, "The last time I was here... was with my father. I almost forgot how nice it looks."

"This reminds me of my old training grounds back in Japan. It would be great to be down there on that mountainside to practice..."

Chun-Li stepped closer Ryu just a bit, "Do you miss home? Do you ever think about going back to Japan?"

The Shotokan warrior paused for a moment, and answered, "Well, since I travel around so much I rarely ever have a chance to go to back to Japan. I can't really call it home because I rarely stay there for long."

"How long has it been since you were last there?"

Ryu thought for a moment but couldn't quite calculate how long he's been away from home. "I really don't know. It's been so long since I've been home that I've lost track of time."

Looking up at him, Chun-Li slowly asked, "...Have I kept you away?"

"No! Of course not!" Ryu answered, "I've enjoyed my stay here! This is probably the longest I have stayed in one place... it's almost like a second home!"

"Do you really mean that?"

"Of course! I am a warrior that always speaks the truth!"

Chun-Li bent forward and huggled Ryu in her arms. "Oh thank you! That means so much to me..."

Ryu blushed a bit while to hold Chun-Li. He turned his head to the side to try to hide his red face and then noticed that there was another amusing site along the other side of the gondola. "Chun, what is that over there?"

The Chinese warrior opened her eyes, Whoa hey... did he just call me 'CHUN'? Just 'CHUN'? Wow...! She raised her head to look out the other windows, and saw what he was looking at. "Oh, that's Water World. It's a place with lots of swimming pools and other water-fun stuff. But since it's winter time, I don't think it's the smartest thing to take a dip..."

"I see. Well, during the right season, then it would probably be most refreshing to visit there!"

"Well, I can take you there too someday!"

"That would be great." Ryu turned his head and continued to gaze outside the window as the gondola continued to approach to its destination. The great elements of earth and water... such great representation here.

"And you just have to see the dolphins and whale... they're just the cutest things!" Chun-Li said in a happy voice, grabbing Ryu arm once again.

"I'm sure they are!" Ryu replied, blushing slightly. But those aren't the only things that are cute...

The gondola finally slowed and reached its destination and the passengers departed to the open area of the amusement park.