The stars shone with a brilliance that could not be matched as they hung in the night sky, giving Ryu a small degree of comfort as he lay in the grass. The carriage that held the Rich's was a good hundred yards away from him, the minimal distance he felt that they should be from him. He did miss their company, but he knew the risk was too great to be any closer. So he rested alone, with only the stars to watch over him.
Ryu then lifted his fist and stared at his, his muscles clenching tight as images from the battle during the tournament replayed in his mind. 'Thank the gods that Dash's injuries aren't life threatening, but after what I did to her she'll never be the same again. I am so weak. I should have been able to control myself...ten years of training, of trying to keep the Dark Hado under control...all for nothing.'
Ryu then shook his head and forced himself to close his eyes, banishing those kinds of thoughts from his mind. 'I cannot think like this. I cannot allow the Dark Hado to break my spirits. If it does, then it is only a matter of time before it consumes me. The elder will be able to help me. And if they cannot, then I will find someone who can. I will not rest until I find a way to destroy this darkness within me.'
Ryu slowly began to drift off to sleep, feeling the fatigue of the past couple of days starting to weigh on his mind. But just when he was reaching the border between reality and fantasy, he felt the slightest movement next to him. A moment later he felt something fall onto him and he sprung into action. In a moment he was on his feet with his fist cocked back, yet he found Diamond Tiara standing next to him with the blanket she had placed upon him cast aside.
"If you're going to be like that every time I try to be nice, then maybe it's for the best that you stay away from us," Tiara muttered as she gathered the blanket, while Ryu let out a sigh and sat back down.
"I am sorry that I reacted that way. I am a bit...on edge," Ryu admitted, but all his words did was cause Tiara to give him a look of suspicion.
"I hope by on edge, you don't mean about to let loose that demon that is inside of you?" she asked, masking her fear with a laugh that didn't convince Ryu.
"No...simply being startled is not enough for the Satsui no Hado to take effect," Ryu informed Tiara, who raised an eyebrow before cautiously sitting down next to Ryu and draping the blanket around herself.
"Then...what does cause that demonic force within you to surface?" she asked. Ryu looked off into the stars as he thought about his answer, remembering all the times the dark power had surfaced.
"The desire to win," he admitted with a whisper, a whisper that made Tiara lean in slightly so that she could hear him better. "The desire to win at any cost. When I am placed in a situation where I feel I must win, be it to protect someone I care about or to defeat my foe, that is when I am most vulnerable to its power. I become so consumed with the desire to win...that I will even kill my foe and any around me to achieve that goal."
"And...have you?" Tiara asked in a whisper far quieter than Ryu's.
"No. Fortunately for me, whenever I have nearly succumb in the past, my friends and family were there to aid me, to bring me back to my senses," Ryu said with a shake of his head. "So far, I have not struck anyone down while under the influence of the Dark Hado. Thanks to my master, Ken, Sakura and now Zangief. I am blessed to have so many allies that I can call upon. That is why it hurts so much when I fail them."
"...why do you care so much about winning?" Tiara asked after a long moment of silence. "If you know that this dark power is waiting for you to be desperate for it, why do care about winning? Why not just accept the loss and train harder to win next time? You aren't losing anything except a match."
"I have to win. I have to prove that I am a true fighter. That I have not failed my master's teachings," Ryu replied with a very shaky tone, as if he was forcing the words out of his mouth.
"That's dumb. Nopony thinks that you're a bad fighter. You're incredible. A loss or two won't mean anything to anypony."
"It will mean a lot to me."
"What will it mean? You're amazing Ryu, one of the best in our world!"
"That's not good enough. I have to be the best period. I have to find the meaning of the fight."
"WHY?!" Tiara practically roared at Ryu, who glared at her with dark eyes in response. "It's just a stupid fight! It was just a tournament! Sure I would have loved to see you win, but for you to nearly damn your soul and almost kill a pony I respect just for a win is going too far!"
"It's not just about winning! It's about proving myself to my master!" Ryu roared back, glaring down at the mare who glared back up at Ryu without budging an inch. "Only when I have overcome all that has been placed before me can I finally end my quest! Only when I have proven myself!"
"Why do you care so much about proving yourself?! You are incredible! Why in the hell do you have to go so far to win?!" Tiara screamed at him.
"So I can prove to my parents who abandoned me that I am not worthless!"
The filly, the insects and very nature itself went silent after Ryu's words, leaving the warrior to sit there breathing heavily while a dark fire raged in his eyes. After a moment Ryu regained control of himself and closed his eyes, turning away from Tiara and beginning to meditate.
"Ryu...what do you mean?" Tiara asked after a moment, but Ryu refused to answer. She then took the blanket off of herself and draped it over Ryu's shoulders, then sitting down in front of him and waiting. After what felt like an hour Ryu opened his eyes, finding that the filly was still staring up at him with caring and concerned eyes. "Ryu?"
"...I was abandoned on Master Gouken's doorstep," Ryu admitted to her, in a voice so quiet that she could barely make out the words. "I was tiny, scrawny and he was afraid that I would not make it through the night. My parents who left me left me with nothing more than the basket I was in and a note. A note asking Gouken if he could care for me. Because they couldn't take care of me anymore."
"Ryu...they might have done it to keep you alive-"
"They abandoned me," Ryu cut her off in a sharp tone, one that silenced her instantly. "They left me because I was weak, because they viewed me as worthless. Gouken nursed me back to health, but they never came for me. They never checked to see if I had survived. They left me with him and continued on with their life, no doubt relieved of the burden that they had cast off their shoulders."
"You can't believe that...there's no way your parents would do that."
"Then where were they?" Ryu asked Tiara in a whisper that was as dangerous as the Satsui no Hado. "Where were they when I had recovered, when Gouken healed me? Why did they not come back? Why was Gouken unable to find them when he went into the city to find my parents? Why did they abandon me? I'll tell you. Because they saw me as worthless and weak."
"You..."
"So I was raised by Gouken, by the man who bothered to give me a chance. He taught me his craft, taught me to be powerful and strong like him," Ryu continued before clenching his fist and seething with rage. "But I am not naturally gifted for fighting. I have no talent in anything. Everything you've seen me achieve was through countless years of repetition and hard work. Every move I have mastered has been a struggle. My brother Ken is talented. Everything I can do he can do and then add a bit of flare to it."
"But not me. I have to practice day in and day out just to keep up with him. And I don't mind. I don't hate having someone to keep pushing me. What I do hate, more than anything else, is when someone disrespects my master and his teachings. When they insult his arts. The man who took me in and loved me when everyone else had abandoned me...and there are those who DARE mock him," Ryu seethed, his eyes flickering crimson for a moment before he placed his hands together and clamed himself down.
"Gouken is gone. Murdered by his brother, who gave into the Dark Hado. The same power he sought to save me from. Leaving me and Ken to continue on his teachings. But try as I might, I am not the master he was. I am not even close. Where as he always knew what to do, I struggle to contain that darkness that plagues all users of the Hado."
Ryu then hung his head and sat in silence for a long time, long enough for the moon to nearly reach the horizon. "All I want is to show my master that I have achieved what he wished for me. That I have taken his teachings and become the warrior that he wished for me to be. But even with all he has taught me, I am still weak. I still fall to those gifted or talented."
Ryu then turned his head towards Tiara, who was completely stunned by what Ryu had said to her. "That is why I must win, Diamond Tiara. So I can finally prove to my parents that they were wrong. That I was not worthless. And so I can prove to my master that I am more than just a baby that was left on his doorstep. That I am worthy of carrying on his name. Because if am not able to fight...then I have nothing left."
Ryu then stood up and bowed slightly to Tiara. "That is why I cannot teach you the way of the Hado. Because I myself am not yet the teacher my master...my father was. All I would be doing in leading you down a path that I would never wish upon another. Forgive me, if you can."
"Ryu...I'm so sorry. I had no idea," Diamond Tiara whispered as Ryu slowly began to walk away. Then she thought about what Ryu had just revealed to her and decided that it was only fair she did the same. "You're the opposite of me."
Ryu raised his head to see Tiara now staring up at the stars, sorrow upon her face. "All you want to do is make your father proud, to prove to him that you have followed his teachings. But me...I want to break away from my dad. All my life I've never had to work for anything. Anything I wanted, he would give me. But after I changed as a pony, I wanted to change how I viewed my outlook on the world. I want to work hard, I want to give my all for others."
"But my dad doesn't see that. He won't dare let his daughter work hard for anything, so long as he can help it," Tiara continued before giving Ryu a glance. "That's one of the reasons he's so nice to you. You helped save our family name and fortune. If not for you, we would all have to work. And he hates the idea of me working, more than anything else in the world. I don't know why, but I hate it. I'm tired of being the spoiled princess. I want to be more. I want to be better."
"So I understand you Ryu, wanting to improve yourself and show to the world that you're more than what they think of you. The difference is you're doing it to make your dad proud...and I'm doing it against his will."
"I'm sure he has a reason for not wishing for you to work," Ryu said as he sat down next to her, sharing the blanket with the filly. "He loves you too much not to."
"And I'm sure your master would want you to release that desire to win that you seek," Tiara replied. "He would hate to see all the pain and strife that you're going through just to make him proud."
"Perhaps you are right...but I still feel that until I prove that I am strong enough...that I will still be the worthless child that was cast away," Ryu whispered.
"And I feel that if I don't work for myself, that if I rely on my father and his wealth, that I will never shake the pony that I used to be," Tiara whispered, before she looked up at Ryu with a small smile on her face. "Hey, maybe we could work together to improve ourselves? You can teach me how to work hard like you do and maybe I can help you to become the person that you want to be?"
"I cannot teach you, Tiara. Not while I still have so much to learn," Ryu replied, but Tiara then elbowed him in the gut.
"You don't have to teach me how to do backflips or defy the laws of gravity or anything. Just help me to become a hard worker."
"...Alright, but in return I will need your assistance to help rid myself of this person that has burdened me for so long," Ryu agreed.
"It's a deal! Bump it!" Tiara exclaimed as she held out a hoof to Ryu. Ryu looked at it for a moment before slightly tapping her hoof with his fist. "Alright, first thing tomorrow you'll teach me how to throw fireballs!"
"How will that help you become a hard worker?"
"Because it takes hard work to throw fireballs!"
"Very well...but then when will you teach me how to let go of the old me?" Ryu asked with an amused smile.
"After I can throw fireballs!"
As the two sat and talked with each other, neither of them were away of the figure that watched them from afar. He had been listening to their conversation and found it to his disliking the longer and longer it went on.
"No, this won't do at all. Seems I will have to interfere after all."