Ryu waited in his holding cell. Ken's lawyers and connections had done their job. A guard had mentioned he would be released within the hour. Ryu allowed himself a small smile. Sometimes he wondered why Ken remained friends with him, even though Ryu never visited or called.

"I'll have to thank him..." Ryu said quietly to himself.

There was a metallic sound to his left and Ryu looked up. Someone was opening the door. Ryu stood and waited. The old man from earlier stood before him.

"Hello Ryu."

Ryu merely nodded.

"Are you here to release me?" Ryu asked bluntly.

"In a moment my young friend, but first there is something we must discuss."

Ryu's eyes narrowed. "Is that so?"

"Don't be so abstinate. I'm just trying to help and you would do well to listen."

Ryu leaned back against a metal wall and cocked his head to the side.

The man smiled and continued.

"We may not be able to keep you here, but you may wish we had. I have a suspicion that some very powerful people are interested in you. You need to watch yourself."

Ryu looked straight at the old man.

"I'm very good at taking care of myself. And even if I wasn't, I'm sure you'll be watching for me anyway. Won't you?"

The old man merely smiled.

~You have no idea~

Chun Li sifted through the bag. The fighting gloves were not an option. He might feel the chip in the lining, or break it when fighting. The containers of food weren't an option. They were all disposable. She could put a fake coin tracer in his cash box, but chances are he would spend it too quickly to be of any good use. She could sew it into the lining of his extra clothes and spare training dogi, but again, the tracer could be damaged in a fight. She thumbed through the several books, but they were all well used. He had several page markers in them all, as well as notes.

Most of the notes were about the different fighting styles he had seen, and others about those he wanted to see. She pushed these to the side and then saw what could be a promising place to plant her tracer. There were a pair of fairly new hiking boots with a few scrolls stuffed into them. Chun Li quickly opened one of the scrolls and her eyebrows raised.

There was a large painting of a tiger and a dragon in battle. There was Japanese lettering all over the thick paper and Ryu's name stood out at the bottom. Chun Li had seen this scroll before. It was awarded to Ryu right after he defeated Sagat. He had been badly injured and barely conscious. Gouken and Gen had carried him off. They had tried to get the wounded champion to the medical tent, but a riot broke out and Ryu was dragged by the two men to a grassy spot underneath the erected bleachers.

The two old men left to try and find Ken, who had been at the medical tent. Chun Li had been the only one there when Ryu awoke dissoriented, and tried to stand, lashing out at anything that moved. She had calmed him, telling him where he was and what had happened. She had given him his scroll and wiped the dried blood off his face. After the crowds disspersed she helped him limp to the medical tent where they waited for their respective instructors.

Chun Li rolled the scroll back up and took out her pen knife and a tube of quick-dry glue and set to work prying the wooden end of the scroll off. She hated to damage the beautiful scroll, but continued anyway. She got the end off of the handle and cut a small space into the handle for her tracer. After she activated it she glued the end of the handle back on and grabbed a second scroll to do the same with another tracer.

Ryu left main building surrounded on all sides by a group of heavily armed guards. He saw the black lincoln parked outside the main entrance and assumed that Ken had given his people orders to take Ryu to wherever he wanted.

Ryu was just pushing his way through the great revolving glass doors when he caught a glimpse of the Chinese woman waiting on the other side.

~Lovely...I'm about to be assaulted~

When Ryu was clear of the doors he could see that she wasn't upset as she had been. To his dismay he also saw that she had his bag with her.

~No telling how many people have pawed through it~

As Ryu bent to pick up his bag Chun Li flashed a thumbs-up at the chief. He nodded with a smile and turned to go back into the building.

After glancing into the bag to see everything was in order Ryu shifted his glare to the woman.

"Everything is there, I inspected it myself."

"I bet you did." Ryu ground out.

Ryu lashed the bag shut and threw it over his shoulder into it's customary positioned and straightened up, looking down at the woman.

"Before I go, I've been wondering. Just who in the hell are you anyway?"

"We met several years ago at a martial arts competition."

Ryu snorted and replied, "Oh, one of Ken's old girlfriends huh?"

It was Chun Li's turn to snort.

"Not Ken's..? Well you can't be one of mine, you still have all your teeth."

Chun Li's face contorted into a snarl and she stepped up to Ryu, shouting in his face.

"You are such an @#%$. I can't believe how much you've changed. Gouken would be so ashamed of your behavior."

Ryu's eyes narrowed.

"And just how in the hell do you know Gouken anyway?"

Chun Li took a moment to compose herself, and then spoke, "I know him through my Sifu Master Gen. I was the girl he brought with him to the competition in Thailand."

Ryu straightened up.

"I see, should have remembered the hairstyle..."

Chun Li shook her head.

"You were polite back then, not an ass."

Ryu who had been calming down now became enraged.

"And why do you give a damn about how I've changed? What buissiness is it of yours?"

"Because at that competition I saw a look in your masters eyes that I had longed to see on my father's face. Your attitude, the way you handled yourself, your accomplishments against Sagat himself...he was proud of you. Gouken, your foster father was proud of you. Having pride in your children is one of the greatest forms of love a father can have for their children. Gouken looked at you that way. My father died shortly after the tournament. I never got to see that look on his face when he looked at me."

Ryu looked away from her face.

"You had accomplished this, when I never did. You are a discrace to his memory, acting and living the way you do now. I became an Interpol agent because I thought it would have made my father proud, even though he is gone. After your father died...became this."

Ryu looked at her and she could tell she had struck a nerve. His fist clenched around his bag's drawstring.

"I am no role model...I am a fighter, plain and simple. I will do and live however neccessary to become the best fighter I can possibly be. Don't make more of me than what I am."

She shook her head, "You're wrong..."

"Maybe I am...Sayonara..."