I can't believe I've finally finished this story! It's been a pleasure writing it and I want to thank all my wonderful readers and reviewers for being so patient with me throughout the years. This epilouge has been rewritten several times, and I finally settled on this version to end the story. I hope you like it. As always, enjoy, and I want to thank any future readers for reading this story all the way through. I hope you ejoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

~Scarlet

The Dragon and The Phoenix- Epilogue

The rain hit the ground in steady sheets. The cacophony of people in the overcrowded street below trying to save their makeshift houses from the flooding was muffled by the steady pounding on the punching bag. Jann moved like the rain on his window panes, fluid and sudden. Thunder broke the rhythm he had been keeping for hours. Rolling a kink out of his neck, he wound down, eventually coming to a weaving stop. The eerie green glow of the digital clock sitting on the concrete floor let him know he still had a few hours before work. He stretched out before calling it an evening. Meticulously cleaning his equipment, he placed it in a corner. He might have just as well left it out. There was nothing in the apartment save his training gear, a rolled futon and an old kitchenette set. Heading for the table, he grabbed a application for a tournament. Where was it? Germany? It wasn't time for that tourney again, was it? That would mean...

It had been nearly a year since he competed last; nearly a year since he left Lei Fang in that hospital bed.

A small voice in his head kept telling him he was moping. He should get back to the circuit, get back to what he did best.

While Lei Fang hadn't shown up, both Song and Ryu had. Both offered him work he'd refused. Both had left the door open if he changed his mind. Qing was dead, Lao was avenged and Lei was no longer following him.

He had all he'd ever wanted, didn't he? Why didn't it feel like a victory?

The pamphlet hit the table with a smack, and he picked up another one. Morocco. Now there was somewhere he'd never fought before. It was a new tournament too, invitation only, sponsored by the father of a club owner he was friends with. Nobody from the usual circuit would be there. He began to fill out the application, stopped, and started again.

This was a good thing. He was moving on, for the first time in a long time. On the plus side, maybe Hitomi would stop calling him. Always dodging his questions about Lei Fang, telling him to compete, that he'd feel better. It was well intentioned advice from someone in a similar situation, he knew. But he could still resent her for it.

Voices in the hall startled him out of his reverie. It was Bai, by the sounds of it. Someone had to stand guard on nights like this or the entire shanty town would end up squatting in the halls.

There was a terse, high pitched reply. A woman. The voice sounded familiar.

The voices rose and started shouting. Jann headed to the door, surely Hitomi hadn't come to talk him back onto the circuit in person...

The moment he opened the door, he was greeted by Bai's body flying down the hall. He slipped into fighting form without having to think about it and headed into the foyer, where Ah Gou was dubiously eyeing Bai's attacker. His fists were raised but he made no move towards her. Instead, he darted out of the way expertly as she surged forward. Jann reacted immediately forcing himself between Gou and the woman. It was over in a second. Her arm snapped forward and he caught her by the wrist, the maneuvered around her, twisting her arm up her back painfully.

"She was asking around about you, boss. Considering all that's happened, we didn't want to be too careful. We asked the lady to leave, politely." He stressed the word, annoyed. Bai and Gou were usually gentleman when it came to the ladies. Usually.

In the heat of the moment, he hadn't gotten a clear look at the attacker. He looked down at the crown of black hair pressed to his chest and made a startling discovery. He released her wrist so suddenly she stumbled back on her heels.

"Lei Fang?"

The glare she gave him was monstrous.

"Lei Fang?" Gou exclaimed, surprised, "It's been years! I didn't recognize you!"

Gou's obvious delight shook Lei out of her thoughts.

Jann just stared.

It was her. She didn't look any different than she had a year ago. She was in the same long blue dress she had fought in at the first DOA Tournament, golden phoenix gliding down the front. Her attention was flickered between Gou's polite apologies and himself.

She was there. Right there.

He turned and headed back to his apartment.

"Wait!"

Lei flew after him, leaving a chatty Ah Gou mid-sentence to dash down the hallway.

She scrambled through the open door, only to hear it shut and lock behind her. She turned at the sound, long hair swirling. Jann leaned on the door, arms crossed, and regarded her. It reminded her very much of the same look he had given her when he had held her in his arms all those months ago. She had a million things to say at once, the words rushed forward and wrapped around her tongue, impairing speech.

"Hi."

She immediately felt like an idiot, but continued on anyway. "I'm..I'm sorry. I meant to come sooner. It's just... so many things happened after you left... It wasn't that easy."

The deepened frown on his face was the only way he expressed his disapproval.

All at once she was enraged. How dare he put this all on her! He had all but disappeared after saying good bye to her that day.

"You left me there, Jann! I was shot and you told me you would be 'at home' and just left." She walked up to him and poke him in the chest. "All this time, I've been trying to prove myself to you. Just when I thought I was beginning to matter, you leave me there! You give me one good reason why I should have rushed to your side!"

She was huffing now, rage building, her pointer finger still jammed into his chest, demanding he explain himself.

"You needed space, to be with your family. I... wasn't needed. I thought you would come around when you could."

She threw up her hands, spun on her heels and stormed away from him. Barred from leaving, she stopped at his concrete window to glower at the rain. He approached her slowly, as though she were dangerous. He did expect her to strike out as he closed in, but nothing came.

There was nothing left, he realized, nothing holding him back, so why was he still hesitating?

Some things are just never easy.

"It killed me, waiting for you." he said quietly. "I thought..." his hands hovered above her shoulders, not quite touching, but applying invisible pressure. His voice was as hoarse as the breath on her ear.

"When I didn't hear from you, I thought you had changed your mind. I wanted to go after you, but..."

She turned to face him. Her eyes reminded him of when they fought, focused and determined.

"but?"

That same current that connected them a year ago was back, pulling him towards her. He rested his hands on the side of the window frame.

"Everything has changed. I've spent most of my life hunting Qing and the White Snakes. Qing is dead. Song has pretty much buried the Snakes. Lao Zhi is avenged. I don't know...how to start over."

He broke away from that disturbing current, turning his back on her.

Never once had he considered that it was not Lei Fang that needed time to adjust. It was himself; and he had been adjusting badly. He hadn't changed at all. He was still bouncing at clubs, only now it wasn't a cover for his other activities. It was his job; and it was boring. But what else was there? How did he start again, when he'd never really had the chance to start at all?

Cool arms encircled his waist, almost causing him to start. Lei Fang laid her head in the space between his shoulder blades. He shuddered as her hair fell forward onto his back, so soft and cool.

"That's why... that's why you stopped fighting." she said quietly, "I had Hitomi and the others look for you at the usual tourneys, but you didn't show. We were all worried." even softer, "I was worried."

He turned, careful not to break the circle of her arms. Thunder and storm railed outside the window, casting fractured light on them both as he held her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into that beautiful hair of hers, "I just..."

He almost didn't understand why she was so accepting, but when she looked up at him like that. He just didn't care. Instead he brought his mouth to hers...

And didn't bother calling out from work.

Lei Fang woke to sunlight streaming through the curtainless window. The pounding coming from the other side of the vast concrete space confirmed why the spot next to her on the futon was bare. Shifting groggily, she pulled the white sheet around her as she rose to approach the punching bag and the man wailing on it.

"Yes." Jann Lee said as she drew level with him, he didn't slow down or break his rhythm, but there was a self satisfied smirk that grew on his face as he noticed Lei wrapped up in the sheet.

"Hmmm?" She chirped, watching him weave and bob could be trance inducing, "Yes, what?"

"To your offer... from last night."

"You mean your interested?" She wasn't sure when she offered if he would accept. He had never been one to be tied down, and they hadn't really discussed the offer fully. They had...other things...on their minds at the moment.

"With some conditions." he slowed, stopped and turned to grab the towel on the window ledge behind him.

"I'd still be allowed to compete whenever I wanted, at any time during the year."

She nodded.

"I occasionally did some work for Ryu, between the circuit and sabotaging the Snakes. He's been offering me more. I'd like to take some of it."

Lei frowned. She hadn't know that. It explained a lot though. Ryu had come to check up on her several times throughout the year. She of course been grateful for his concern, but he was nothing more than acquaintance, she didn't understand why she merited the special attention.

Now she knew.

"What kind of work?" she asked.

"Nothing I can't handle." he answered, and sighed at her frown. He had promised there would be no more secrets between the two of them. No more protecting her without letting her know what she was being protected from. And no more taking risks without explaining. It was a sacrifice, he knew, but watching Lei Fang watch him with that look on her face, he knew it would be worth it.

"Information mostly. It's not very dangerous."

Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. "So long as you tell me where I can reach you. It's fine."

"Bai, Ah Gao and some of the guys from the old days, we've been teaching some of the kids here how to stand up for themselves. Some of them are good, they could benefit from proper training. If you'll allow any of my students and friends here to train at your dojo, I'll accept your teaching job."

She nodded, beaming brighter than the sun permeating the room. "Of course! Grandfather will be thrilled! When can you come to Shanghai?"

"Tomorrow, if you like. I have to make some calls." he took a large gulp from his water bottle, "and I want to show you something."

"Hmmm..." she asked, walking towards the futon, Jann watched her go, fully appreciating how much the sheet was slipping down her backside. "What's that?"

"You'll see." he said as he followed her.

Several hours later, Lei Fang found herself in a semi-rural area on the mainland, overlooking the urban metropolis. Jann seemed to know the area well, he walked purposefully through the town and to a small plot of land that at first glance appeared to be untouched. Then she noticed the spires.

Memorial markers. This was a graveyard.

"Today is Lao's anniversary " Jann said, kneeling at a marker to clear off the dirt and moss on the stone.

This was where he had gone all those weeks he had disappeared; to Lao's grave.

As he began to speak to the marker, explaining why he wouldn't be around as much, Lei could have sworn she heard Lao's laughter and felt his smile. She turned her face up to the hot blue sky above them.

Maybe it was just the sunshine.

Jann turned to take her hand and she gripped tight as she always had. A dragon girl who would not let go of what she wanted, holding tight to the phoenix boy who was learning to start anew.

And for the first time in a long time, all was well.