Street Fighter: Dream Never Ends

by Talyn Rahman-Figueroa

  “Kusou!” Maki cursed, irritated that yet again, her kendo sticks broke against the rubber training dummy. She wanted to yell at Guy for buying her this crap. Varnish-finished bamboo would have been better for practice than this cheap recycled wood.

  “Damn you, Guy,” she snarled, throwing the snapped wood at him in frustration. “Would it kill you to get me something nice once in awhile?”

  Maki held herself still in front of the rubber dummy that stared apathetically back at her.

  “What the hell are you looking at?” she yelled, slapping it hard on the chest.

  She picked up her tonfa, gripping it by the short perpendicular handle, and guarded her face with her forearm, before swapping kicks at the dummy. She preferred not to use the batons to train, but Guy left her with little choice. The piles of broken sticks were scattered around the garden. Hopefully now, he wouldn’t take short cuts with purchases for her.

  Guy remained standing at the side of the lawn. He was deep in thought. He was unable to forget what Ryu had told him. If a man as pure as Ryu could be corrupted by such indestructible power, Guy didn’t want to train at all. He quivered at the thought of what Ryu was living with, this Dark Hadou that made him destroy against his own will. It went against everything he believed in.

  “Okay, big guy,” Maki wailed loudly as she wiped her brow clear of sweat. “What happened to spending some time with me?”

  Guy’s stoical eyes were on the ground. He clearly wasn’t listening.

  “HEY!” Maki yelled, throwing a stick at him. It startled him from his trance.

  “Huh, whaaa,” Guy broke out in shock.

  “It’s guys like you that make me wanna fight alla time. Jeez, what the hell is wrong with you? I would have thought you’d be ecstatic with Rena gone for a few days.”

  She walked up to him with a sympathetic smile, pressing her body up against his. Guy tensed, not in the mood to do anything but liberate himself from his thoughts.

  “We can do another kind of training, if you know what I mean,” Maki said softly against his ears.

  She wanted to say more, but she was distracted by the persistent sounds of drilling and construction from the neighbor’s house. Guy sighed at this welcome disturbance, anything to shut his mind down.

  With a glance in her direction, he saw Maki’s face scrunch up. Sticky with sweat, her blonde fringe stuck to the corners of her face. She still wore Guy’s shirt from the morning, with the buttons half-undone. Her legs were bare except her sneakers. With an urgency that surprised him, Maki ran her tongue across his lips.

  “Whoa, what’re you doing?” Guy couldn’t help asking, as he felt her hands all over him. Maki simply winked in response.

  “I got bored,” she said quickly, shrugging her shoulders.

  “I like the way your mind works,” he smiled, opening his eyes to the hazy sky. He loved Maki’s rebellious nature. If he needed a doting housewife to bore him, Rena was perfect. “No wonder I love you more.”

  Maki stopped what she was doing for a second, causing Guy to look down at her.

  “You love me more?” she said softly. Guy shuffled, smoothing her hair away from her eyes, but was startled to see her angry.

  “Yes,” he stuttered.

  “But you love my sister too, right?”

  Guy bit his lip. This was the last conversation he wanted.

  “Oi, don’t ignore me,” Maki sneered, smacking his chest. His silence was only prolonged.

  “I swear to God, Guy. I want one day with you where I don’t have to hear her goddamn name. Rena this and Rena that.”

  Guy sighed, now feeling wide-awake and disappointed by her quick change of mood. He reached over to grab Maki’s arm, but she retreated with a harsh shove.

  “I just told you I love you,” he tried to explain. “What’s wrong with that?”

  “You idiot,” she spat, picking up a few broken sticks from the grass and throwing a piece at him.

  “Honey, please--”

  “Aww, I’m your honey,” Maki sarcastically cooed, then she growled. Guy ducked to avoid a flurry of sticks hurled at him. “I bet she’s your ‘sweetheart’,” she yelled, throwing more. “Thanks for these, by the way,” she said, waving the broken pieces in the air. “I see a good use for them now.”

  “Maki, c’mon,” he writhed, running after her on the lawn, dashing by the training dummy that stood idly in the middle.

  He caught her arm with a lunge, then she pushed him back. He had forgotten how strong she was when she was angry. By the tautness of her face, he knew she wanted to fight.

  “We don’t have the space to spar here,” Guy said nervously, watching Maki tighten her body in her stance.

  “Who said anything about a spar?” she said, before clenching her teeth into a growl. “I work better when I have a real ass to kick.”

  She advanced with a straight high kick. Guy caught it then felt Maki’s other leg catch him in the face. They fell to the ground with a harsh thump.

  “Damn, you’re serious,” Guy bawled, flinching at the dull ache he felt below his jaw.

  “Get up, you asshole,” Maki ordered, lurching back up to kick him again.

  Guy obeyed, stumbling back a few tiny steps as he penetrated Maki’s hits with his forearm until he hit the shed. Quickly, he ducked under her arm, and surprised her with a short spin kick. He smirked. He loved fighting with Maki. It was almost as good as sex.

  Maki cursed, glaring angrily at the training dummy that had got in her way. From the corner of her eye, she could see the tonfa glinting invitingly at her. It was all too tempting to use her favorite weapon to knock her lover semi-unconscious, but she didn’t really want to hurt him.

  Maki spun and threw a hard punch. Guy slipped by fast behind her, trapping her arm in a joint lock, and in one swift movement, hooked her leg with his. He gripped her shoulder tight so that she was no longer able to move. She butted him with the back of her head, but he held onto her tighter.

  “I win,” she smiled, hearing Guy groan.

  “Only because you look so good,” he said, releasing her. “My shirt looks good on you,” he leered, drawing his hand to her nape. Maki moaned, irritated that she was enjoying the kisses he planted all over her, as usual.

  She turned and smiled at him as normally as she could.

  “Where have I heard that before?” she murmured, looking away from him. She remembered Guy saying the same thing to Rena when he was in the mood to fool around with her.

  Sometimes, Maki felt like she was the playing the fool. How could she know whether Guy really loved her? Perhaps he was saying the exact same things to Rena, and loved her just the same way. The thought of the two of them together brought uncomfortable shivers. She hated her sister so much.

  “Feel my heart thump,” Guy requested, placing her hand on his firm chest. “This is what you make me feel,” he smiled at her.

  She tried not to frown. Rena kissed those same lips, fervently, passionately.

  “You’re so cheesy sometimes,” she laughed, but mournfully. He was here without Rena and was hers for the moment. She had imagined it this way.

  “We can make it work, Maki. I’ll make Genryusai understand what we have. It’s not like I’ve strayed from the family,” he laughed sheepishly, then stopped. He knew that the complexity of their relationship was hardly a laughing matter. “The next time I see Rena, I promise, I’ll tell her everything.”

  Maki’s smile dropped. “Now you’re asking for it,” she said, lifting her fist to his face.

  “Hey, I tried,” he said defensively. “The celebrity indoors is proof that my confession to Rena was disrupted by something beyond my control. She even told you herself.”

  Maki shrugged, then kicked him hard in his stomach with a growl.

  *****