Chapter 12:

Christmas morning, Chun Li and Ryu woke up together feeling refreshed. She snuggled to his warm muscular body and cupped his butt with her hand. "Hey!" Ryu exclaimed. Chun Li snickered.

"I won't be able to do that soon, so I have to take advantage of the time I have left," she explained.

"Oh, really?" Ryu said and gave her a mischievous look. He grabbed both of her breasts and playfully bounced them around.

"Now, it's on!" Chun Li wrestle attacked Ryu and tried to pin him down. They playfully wrestled each other laughing and giggling. Ryu tried tickling her, but she quickly got out of any hold he had her in as she hated being tickled. "That's cheating!" she said.

Ryu laughed, "that's my best defense against you! If you get those legs around me, it's game over." Chun Li smiled. "All this wrestling has got me a bit hot if you know what I mean?" Chun Li looked down at his boxer briefs.

"Is that something in your underwear or are you just happy to see me?" she teased. Ryu leaned into Chun Li and kissed her. Things were about to get more intimate between them but mid-kiss, a growling came from Ryu's stomach. He chuckled.

"Guess I'm hungry," he put his hand to his stomach.

"We can finish this later, let's get breakfast. I'm sure Ken has some grand feast set up for us." Chun Li said. Sure enough, they went into the dining hall and a grand breakfast was hot and ready for everyone to eat.

"It's about time you two lovebirds got up. Merry Christmas!" Ken said. "My two best friends and my wife all under one roof, I cannot think of a better Christmas. Let's celebrate life, love, and prosperity!" He group hugged Chun Li and Ryu.

"All this love makes me want to barf!" Eliza joked as she walked in the dining hall. Ken turned around to embrace her and gave her a kiss. "That's better!

Guile, his wife Julia, and daughter Amy entered the dining hall too. "Aunt Eliza!" Amy exclaimed and ran over to her to give her a big hug.

"How's my favorite niece? Ready to open some presents?" Eliza asked with childish excitement in her voice.

"Presents! Presents! Presents!" Amy pranced around happily.

"Breakfast first, little one!" Julia said. Amy groaned. "I know, I know, but how can you play with all your new toys on an empty stomach?"

"You didn't go overboard, did you Eliza?" Guile asked her.

"Me? Never!" she replied.

Chun Li whispered to Ryu, "It's kinda funny to see Guile acting like a normal human being and not wanting to kill someone." Ryu quietly laughed at her remark.

"Guess parenting will do that to you," he said back.

"Alright everyone, chow time!" Ken announced.

Everyone sat down at the table and served themselves the most wonderful breakfast with ham, eggs, casseroles, breads, jams and jellies, sweets, stuffed French toast, hash browns, all the works! Ryu was most insistent of trying at least one of everything. Chun Li, Julia, and Eliza enjoyed mimosas while Ken, Ryu, and Guile downed other cocktails. It was a lovely breakfast enjoyed by all.

Meanwhile, in Thailand…

A woman was chained to a wall and hanging by her hands. A tall evil figure circled around her as she came to.

"I won't ask again, gypsy! Read the cards! How can I get Ryu? Don't let my patience wear thin." Bison warned her.

"I shall not read for such a man who treats a guest this way. My soul power will not work under such hostile conditions." Rose said. Angered, Bison let her out of her chains, and she floated near him.

"Perhaps we need a little persuasion," Bison snapped his fingers and Balrog brought in a man Rose knew from her village back in Genoa. "Kill him!"

"Alright, I'll read my cards!" Rose shouted out. Balrog stopped his huge fist from connecting with the man's face.

"Good. Now, tell me, what do they say about my future endeavors?" Bison impatiently asked. Rose took a minute to relax and read her cards, her eyes turned white.

"I see a woman…strong. She is with Ryu, her love…it gives him strength. Strength like I've never seen before, a great power over evil."

"Chun Li! I must kill her." Bison exclaimed.

"Wait, I see something else…if your path is to kill the love of Ryu, a great power will awaken in him. Damage, destruction, chaos, and death is what I see." Rose was having trouble concentrating. Upon Bison's insistence, she read her cards again. "I see a death by a dark powerful figure…"

"Whose death?" Bison angerly asked.

"My card's foresight doesn't spell everything out, merely suggestions of the future and warnings of what will become." Rose said with annoyance in her voice. Bison huffed. "This card here shows a great battle will be waged and loss of life will occur."

"Ryu? Is it? I must control him before he becomes too powerful!" Bison said.

"This other card shows a man of great power will be the victor in the battle, but it's not just any man, it's a walking devil, one who has already succumbed to the dark hadou,"

"Akuma! It must be that fool. I must find a way to defeat him. Out of my way!" Bison left the room in a fit of rage. Balrog watched over her and turned around to leave too. He heard a whooshing sound and he turned back around quickly to see that Rose and the man from her village had vanished.

"The boss won't like this," Balrog quietly said to himself.

In New York a few days later…

Chun Li, Ryu, and Ken arrived at JFK airport. They wanted to see him off to his next destination for training.

"It's going to be less exciting without you here, buddy. Never a dull moment with you two." Ken said.

"Thank you for everything, as usual you never fail to impress me," Ryu replied, "Except your fighting, you've gotten weaker." Ken threw a punch at Ryu, but he caught it. They both laughed. Chun Li was standing in the back giving the two best friends time to say goodbye to one another.

"Better give that girl a good farewell," Ken nodded in the direction of Chun Li, "I don't know why she loves you, but Chun Li is one hell of a woman. Don't let her go for too long, she'd do anything for you, I hope you know that."

"You're right. I've made a promise to her and myself to fight and train hard every day, to kill Akuma and Bison. I must train even harder to overcome the dark hadou. Once I reach my goal, I will marry her. Will you be my best man?" Ryu asked.

"You bet, buddy!" Ken gave Ryu one last hug goodbye. He watched him walk over to Chun Li and they embraced.

"This part never gets any easier," Chun Li told Ryu as tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks.

"I hate this part too. I don't like to leave you so sad, the only tears I want to see from you are tears of happiness. But, please remember my promise to you. If you ever feel lonely, just look at that ring on your finger or the necklace around your neck and know that I'm lonely for you too. I'll always find my way back to you."

"Promise me you'll write or send me a postcard from wherever you are, so I know you're alright," Chun Li requested. "And here," Chun Li handed him a little notebook. "Read the first page, it's something I want you to remember when times are tough."

Ryu opened the book and read the line aloud, "The course of true love never did run smooth." He smiled, "This will always be with me. Thank you." He gave Chun Li a long hard kiss, they embraced for as long as they could.

"Get out there and kick some ass," she said.

"Will do!" Ryu left for his terminal. Chun Li and Ken watched as Ryu disappeared into the crowd. Chun Li put her face into Ken's chest and whimpered. All Ken could do was comfort her the best he could.

That night, Chun Li was in her apartment having a cup of tea. She was getting ready for work the next morning, but all she could think about was Ryu. He must be in Brazil by now, she thought. She was sad but she knew that she couldn't sulk about his absence. I must continue to better myself as a fighter and an officer. I can't let father or Ryu down. Chun Li suddenly felt uneasy, like someone was watching her. Unsure of what to do, she carefully looked around her apartment. As she came to her bedroom, she tried flipping the light switch on, but no light shone from the bulb. A dark shadowy figure approached her from the back. Chun Li's hair stood on edge, she quickly turned around and saw a floating woman. Rose? Chun Li recognized her. Before she could do anything to protect herself, Rose put her hands up by Chun Li's head and began chanting in Italian. She was casting a spell that would erase Ryu's and her love from her memory. No! What is she doing? Chun Li thought. She felt memories of love, happiness, and connections to Ryu vanish from her mind. Rose was making her forget all about the deep love between them.

Rose thought, I'm sorry to have to do this but I must test Ryu's and your love. My cards don't lie, they saw what the future has in store for the defeat of Bison, Ryu must be strong enough or he'll die. Bison must be defeated.

And just like that, all of the love, the sweet memories, the passion, the love making, deep conversations, and the time spent together were blocked from both Chun Li's and Ryu's minds. It was reduced to a mere friendship before they had fallen in love, back to the simple friendship when Chun Li was 15 and Ryu was 17. The spell extended to anyone who knew of their love, like a cloud over their minds.

Chun Li dropped to the floor. Rose carefully picked her up and set her on the bed. She took off the ring and necklace Ryu had given her and put them in her pocket. "Sleep now," Rose said, and she vanished. At the same time, the spell affected Ryu. The picture he kept of Chun Li and himself altered to show only him on top of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.

In the morning, Chun Li awoke to her alarm going off. She felt a sadness in her heart but couldn't think of a reason as to why she was feeling down. She shrugged it off and got ready for work. She went about her day in the office at Interpol. Meanwhile, Ryu trained with a friend who would teach him the ways of capoeira. He felt off but shook it off and focused on his training.

The two fighters spent the next four years going about their lives. Their love for each other forgotten. Only seeing each other in passing at world tournaments. Ryu was known for his legendary fighting skills and Chun Li for her extremely powerful legs and determination in a fight. At work, whenever Ryu was brought up, Chun Li fondly remembered her days as a teenage tour guide in Hong Kong showing around Ryu and Ken, but that's all she remembered.

It wasn't until one day, Chun Li crossed paths with a friend she didn't remember having…Cammy White.

The End.

Until next time! Follow up on the story of Chun Li and Ryu's forgotten romance in another story coming soon! Thank you for reading!