Street Fighter Fan Fiction ❯ It's Never Lonely at the Top ❯ Invitation and Hunger, Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

The next morning, Karin woke up with a slight headache. She should have been able to sleep well, but the noise from a group of police sirens had kept her up most of the night. No matter how badly she wanted a decent night's rest, it would hardly be practical for her to soundproof her bedroom without isolating herself from her father and having to install an intercom system in order to hear when it was time to go to dinner. Few things irritated her father more than wasted money. He was a family man first, and his primary goal was to invest in the future of those closest to him.

Karin checked her alarm clock, and was surprised that the time was only seven-thirty. It felt like a miracle that she was able to get up on time with all the extraneous noise she had to deal with. She took her time leaving her room and walked sleepy-eyed into the bathroom to shower and freshen up for the day, putting on a ruffled blue dress after she finished drying herself off. Her father, Katsuo Kanzuki, awaited her in the family room with a stack of unmarked boxes wrapped in several different patterns. He took his eyes off the current events section of his newspaper to greet his daughter and kiss her on the forehead.

"And how is my little lotus blossom this morning?" he asked, adjusting his glasses.

"About as good as one can do with police sirens blaring all night long," said Karin. "For so-called 'protectors of the peace', they sure like to make a lot of noise."

"Yes...it is quite disturbing that such lowlife criminals feel the need to disrupt the peace of decent folk like us with their...antics."

Karin looked at the stack of boxes sitting next to her father. She was anxious to open one, but her father waved her off.

"Not yet, Karin," he said. "You know the rules: all boxes may only be opened after you and I finish breakfast."

Karin sighed. White Day was one of her favorite times of year, and she always wanted to know what sorts of gifts she would receive. Having to put off the revelation until breakfast only increased the tension.

"Very well, Father. Has Ishizaki finished preparing the food yet?"

"I believe so," said Katsuo. "He should be in the dining room."

He and Karin left the family room and sat across from each other at the very long dining room table. There were at least a dozen empty chairs, which were only ever occupied for family reunions and shareholder meetings. Even with all of the extra space, the Kanzukis still found a way to keep the place looking elegant.

A few minutes after they had taken their seats, Ishizaki came out of the kitchen with two plates stacked with pancakes in imported maple syrup and served with buttered French toast. In her younger days, gourmet meals were the norm for Karin, and usually included two or more courses at breakfast, lunch and dinner. She still felt the need to keep up with her martial arts training, and eating such big meals every day didn't help her maintain an ideal weight. Her father recently reduced the meals to one a day to allow both of them to return to their duties in a timely manner. They allowed Ishizaki to take a break from his duties and enjoy breakfast with them, and they listened to the burly butler's stories about his life prior to being hired by the Kanzuki family. After Karin and her father polished off their breakfasts, they returned to the family room to begin their annual White Day present-opening ritual.

"All right, Karin, dear," her father said, "we received these presents from admirers a few days prior to the holiday. You may open one of these boxes at a time. If you decide that you really like one of these presents, we'll allow you to invite that person over for one night."

Karin picked up one of the striped boxes and examined it. "Um, Father?" she asked. "Why aren't there name tags on any of these?"

"It's part of the surprise. We can't have you playing favorites, now. It would ruin the spirit of the tradition."

She opened the smallest box and pulled out an emerald pendant bound linked to a silver chain. "It's nice," she said, "but I already have a few of these from last year. What's next?"

Katsuo handed her an unmarked red box filled with chocolates. "How about this? Everyone loves chocolate, right?"

"Oh, of course. Let me taste one of those."

She took a bite into one of the candies, and spat it back out just as quickly. "Yuck! What is this? Hazelnut? Disgusting. Those boys should know better by now. I do not like hazelnut chocolates!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do, Karin?" asked Katsuo, watching his daughter's mood fade from jovial to jaded with each new box filled with a less-than-impressive trinket. "I can't simply tell those boys to pick up their gifts and go home because you don't like them."

"Perhaps it's better that they don't show up," said an irritated Karin. "It's embarrassing enough as it is opening these boxes finding things that I've already received year after year. I wouldn't want to see the looks on those poor boys' faces. I just wish that for once someone would give me something that would blow my mind...or at least not bore me to tears."

Karin's father passed another box to her, but she declined to open it. The string of mediocre gifts that her admirers had given her for White Day left her unhappy. Disappointed that she wouldn't be able to choose a worthy date out of any of them, she went downstairs to the athletic room in the basement of her mansion to vent her frustration.

About a mile across town, Sakura's early-morning training session at the Saikyo-ryo dojo was in full swing. She watched over a sparring match between her best friend Hinata Wakaba and a boy named Sho Fukui, as both fighters traded rapid kicks and punches. Sho, a one-year veteran at Saikyo and two years Sakura's senior, managed to block Hinata's onslaught of punches with a single hand. Sakura was astonished at the boy's fighting prowess. While she secretly wanted Hinata to come out on top, Sakura couldn't deny how well Sho was doing, and thought that he made a great addition to Saikyo's roster of fighters.

"Very good!" she said to both of them. "That's enough fighting for now. Let's take a break."

The tall brown-haired man adjusted his gloves. "Sounds like a good idea," he said. "This is starting to wear me out."

"Me, too," said Hinata. "I haven't had a workout this intense since last month's tournament. I guess I have you to thank for getting me into this martial arts business, Sakura-chan." She nudged Sakura with her elbow and tried to place it on her friend's shoulder, almost falling over when Sakura moved out of the way.

"You two seem to get along pretty well," said Sho.

"Yeah," said Sakura. "Me and Hina-chan have been hanging out together since high school. Kei used to be part of our posse, too, but I haven't heard from her as often since she got accepted to that junior college in Nagoya."

"That's a pretty long way to go for school."

"I'm considering taking a flight out to Nagoya this summer. Maybe I'll get a chance to see her there. What do you think, Hina-chan?"

"Oh, I'd love to go," said Hinata, "but, uh...aren't those plane tickets expensive?"

"Come on, Hina! You could easily afford to go with all the money you've made in tournaments."

"Yeah...but you and I still have to worry about keeping up with our rent. If we won bigger prizes, that wouldn't be much of an issue."

Sakura sympathized with her long-time friend, and realized that her explanation made sense. Even though she had fought in enough tournaments to become an international star, she still lacked the proper finances to live as comfortably as she wanted. The next big event was still two months away, so Sakura had to put her trip to Nagoya on hold until she could raise the money she needed.

"So, ladies," said Sho, desperate to change the subject. "Either of you doing anything special today?"

"No," Sakura said solemnly.

"Why not?"

Karin's words of encouragement from the previous night rang through Sakura's head again. Being part of the circuit usually brought fame and fanboys with it. Sakura had the former, but not the latter, and neither she nor Hinata could understand why.

"It's no big deal, really," she said. In her head, however, she felt that it was a big deal. Not one single person had offered Sakura a gift of any kind. She then thought about the sorts of gifts that Karin might have received for White Day, and wondered if she hadn't received any because she wasn't rich enough.

"What about you, Hinata?" asked Sho.

"Kyosuke and Batsu are finally coming back to town," said Hinata. "I hope that one of them will come by with something good. If they do, I promise I'll share a bit of it with you, Sakura."

"You sure it's okay?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah. Come on...I can't deny my friend a good time and let her be lonely on a holiday like this!"

Hinata wrapped her arm around Sakura, and the two girls started to smile. "Thanks, Hina. I knew I could count on you."

With local time approaching eleven o'clock, the threesome decided to take a short break. They still had time to themselves until Dan Hibiki arrived in the afternoon.

Karin took a trip downtown to Setsuka's Outdoor Bar and Grill for lunch, figuring that if she wouldn't get a decent gift for the holiday, she would at least get to enjoy the weather at one of her favorite dining spots. She sat at a table by herself and ordered the most expensive steak combo meal on the menu, hiding her face behind a mystery novel and a pair of sunglasses to keep the onlookers away. After her steak meal arrived, she noticed Sakura, Hinata and Sho approaching the diner, each of them carrying shopping bags in their hands. Hinata and Sho waited for a waitress to take their orders, while Sakura scanned the area for an empty table, eventually finding Karin in the mix.

"Damn," Karin said to herself. "I knew I should have undone these curls before coming out her today."

She looked up momentarily to see Sakura waving toward her and sporting that cheerful, disarming smile on her face. She wanted to stop her from approaching so that she could enjoy lunch by herself, but if anybody were to come near her, it might as well have been Sakura.

"It's surprising to see you here, Sakura," said Karin. "I thought you'd still be at the dojo at this hour."

"Hey...an empty stomach is no way to spend an afternoon," said Sakura. "Me, Hinata and Sho went down to the mall a little while ago to do some shopping. I brought back something for you, too."

"Could it possibly wait until I'm finished eating?" Karin tried to ask the question in the nicest way possible. Even when she did so, she felt a little weird inside. She was familiar enough with Sakura to allow her to stay close to her during her busiest moments, even if only for a few seconds. Had anybody else interrupted her under similar circumstances, Karin would have chased them away without even looking at them. Sakura simply took it in stride, allowing her friend to enjoy her own meal while she chatted with Hinata and Sho.

What the hell was that about?, thought Karin. Why is Sakura acting so friendly to me now? It was nice of her to think of me when she was out shopping, but she didn't have to go through all that trouble. I just hope what's in those bags of hers isn't anything lame.

A few bites of the steak in front of her helped rid her mouth of that horrible taste of hazelnut. The iceberg lettuce in her salad was nice and crispy, just the way she liked it. Karin poured a little French dressing on her salad and ate happily, trying not to lose her place in the novel she was reading. She kept her smile hidden from the other customers, again wanting to keep unwanted attention away from herself until her meal was finished. Karin summoned the waitress to her table to collect her payment for the food, along with a more-than-generous twenty-five percent tip. She had money to burn, and she felt that even a common woman deserved to have a taste of riches every once in a while. The waitress smiled at Karin and stuffed the small handful of thousand-yen bills into the pocket of her apron before going to her next table.

"Sakura!" she called.

The brunette fighter turned her head to see who was talking to her. She put her knife and fork down and temporarily excused herself from the table to sit with Karin, taking her shopping bags with her.

"All finished, Karin?" asked Sakura.

"Yes. The steak and salad here are delicious, as usual." Karin looked over at the other two people sitting at Sakura's old table. "Who are your friends over there?"

"You remember Hinata Wakaba from Taiyo High School, don't you? And Sho Fukui from Gedo? They train at the dojo with me every morning."

"It's been too long, so I don't quite remember." Her eyes fixated on Sakura's shopping bags, as she was more interested what was inside them.

"Hmm...I'm pretty sure you'd get along well with Sho. He's quite good at mixed martial arts, just like you."

"Is that so? I'll have to make a note of this 'Sho' person."

Sakura pulled out a white box from one of her bags. It was decorated with white lace, and adorned with a blue rose in one of the corners. "I bought this from that fancy gourmet candy shop at the mall," she said, "and I thought you might like them."

"More chocolate?" asked Karin. "That's one of the last things I wanted today."

"Come on, Karin...just try one."

Sakura took a truffle from the box and popped it into her mouth, savoring the taste of the chocolate filling. "I'm telling you," she said, licking her fingers, "these are top-of-the-line truffles. You can't get much better than this."

There's that smile again. How can I refuse that?

Karin ate one of the truffles, taking a small bite at first, and then putting the rest of it in her mouth after tasting the delicious gooey chocolate center. "My goodness! You're right!" she said. "These are really good."

"See? Didn't I tell you?"

She didn't know how Sakura had done better than the gifts given to her through her father, but the chocolate truffles Karin tasted were the best gift she received that afternoon. As part of the deal with her father, Karin decided that she would invite Sakura as her special guest for an evening. It would be hard to explain to him how it happened, but rules were rules, after all.

"I really appreciate you coming out here to share your chocolates with me, Sakura," she said. "You certainly have good taste."

"It's no problem," said Sakura. "They're all yours if you want them."

"Th-thank you."

Karin placed the box of truffles into her purse and got up to leave the diner. She was greeted by a big hug from Sakura, just like the one she received after taking her home last night.

"Sakura!" she muttered. "Behave yourself! There are people watching!"

Sakura looked around and saw a few of the diner's patrons staring awkwardly at her, and slowly backed off.

"Eh heh...sorry," she said with mild embarrassment.

"It's all right," said Karin. "You were a bit excited, that's all...but you should learn to control your impulses to hug me in public during the daytime. Now, I need to return home to meet with my father. I'll stop by the dojo to pick you up again tonight. Be ready by the door this time, okay? There'll be a little something...special in store for you later."

"You got it," said Sakura. "See you later!"

Sakura walked back toward her two dojo companions, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Someone certainly looks excited," said Sho. "Well, more than you did at the dojo, anyway. Mind filling us in on what that little exchange was all about?"

"Yes, do tell us, Sakura-chan," said Hinata.

"She...liked the chocolates," said Sakura.

Hinata grinned and elbowed Sakura again, suspecting that there was more to the story. "Is that all you and Kanzuki talked about over there?"

"I don't know. She said she had something 'special' in store for me tonight after she ate one of them."

"It's to be expected from a rich girl like that," said Sho. "I can't believe candy was all it took to butter her up. I wish a cute girl like that would shower me with attention."

There was something else to it, too...a feeling Sakura couldn't quite explain. She felt her heart flutter when Karin told her that she enjoyed the truffles, and another one when she reached in for the hug. Instead of confusion, she felt happy that Karin appeared to be warming up to her more easily, and she wondered what kind of surprise Karin had for her that night. Hinata and Sho dragged her along with them to the nearby bus stop, eager to return to the dojo for their afternoon session with their sensei.