King of Fighters: The Cloak of Yen Shui Fahn
by Anita Ashworth
Characters by those who are not Anita Ashworth


    I know virtually nothing about the storyline to The King of Fighters, but from the small pieces I've gathered playing �95, �97, �98 and �99, I've put this together for your reading enjoyment.  Hope you like it, and don't bother telling me if I've strayed from the storyline, as I'm sure I have in several instances, or if I'm off-character, because though your effort to help is appreciated, I honestly don't care.  I just wanted to write this.

    So read on...



Part I

Kensou knocked eagerly on the door of Apartment 333.  He cleared his throat and tried to hold back the giddy little smile creeping toward his lips.  His feet shuffled back and forth as he waited in nervous anticipation.  It struck him that he should slip the package he held behind his back, and he did so.
    "Just a minute," came a voice from inside.  Kensou heard a bolt sliding back, and the door opened wide.
    Athena looked up and paused momentarily.  "You..."  She stepped back quickly, surprised, her teeth clenched in a half-grin, suddenly remembering to button the top two clasps of her blouse.  She silently cursed herself for forgetting.
    Kensou gave a grin of his own, which turned into a smile as he raised a hand to wave.  He, too, silently cursed himself, but only because he hadn't noticed the state of her blouse before she did.  With an inward sigh, he produced his gift; a bundle of multi-colored roses.  "Morning, beautiful!" he greeted.
    Athena sighed and leaned against the door frame with a smirk, accepting the flowers.  She waved them in front of his face, placing a hand on her hip.
    "You keep dreaming, buster!  Do you have a good reason for being here today?  Or are you just coming on to me again?"
    Kensou scratched his head, wondering if she thought that wasn't a good enough reason.  "Master Chin wants us to come down to his place for training today.  He said it's important.  He wants Bao to come, too, but I can't find him anywhere�"
    "Kenken?"  The kid appeared from one side of the room and waved at him, running to the door.
    Kensou blinked as Bao trotted his way between Athena and stood between them, the highly effective barrier of love that he was.  Kensou sagged slightly.  He observed the kid momentarily, taking in his matted hair and yellow jacket with sleeves too large for him.  In Japan, women wore kimono with the same effect.  It oughtn't be for boy his age to do the same.  Especially in yellow.  And Bao wore shorts that were almost as short as Athena's skirts.  Kensou didn't trust that, either, and he'd be in quite a position to make fun of the boy, were he any older.  He mentally waved the image of Bao off his mind.  "What's the squirt doing here?"
    "Hm?  Oh..." Athena raked her fingers through her dark, silky hair.  Kensou resisted the urge to look her up and down during that motion.  He'd almost swear she had done that on purpose, but knew Athena wasn't that kind of girl.  Her petite figure was quite alluring, but he wouldn't allow himself to stoop to observing fully the body of his beloved, knowing it would only make his chances more difficult if she noticed.  He did his best to stare straight forward and continued to listen:  "I promised him I'd let him watch a movie here when we trained last week.  Little guy fell asleep on my couch."  She looked down at the boy proudly, as though he'd gotten golden stars from the teacher all week and passed a difficult test of cuteness.
    Bao just looked slightly annoyed and pointed at Kensou.  "Who're you calling �squirt'?  Big brother is being mean, sis!"
    Kensou patted the boy's head a few times, smiling.  "I'll be mean during training later.  Right now, we have to get going."
    "Aaow!  But I haven't even had breakfast!"  Bao gave the annoyingly high-pitched whine that composed seventy-four percent of the molecular content of children.
    Kensou raised a finger, about to speak, when Athena stepped between them.
    She turned her head to Bao.  "It's okay.  Kensou will take you for breakfast, and I'll head down to master Chin's.  I should be there first, since I'm the head student."
    Kensou sagged entirely now.  "Aw, c'mon, Athena!  I was going to walk down there with you!"
    "I know.  That's why I want you to take him to breakfast instead.  I already ate.  I bet you didn't eat, either, did you?  Too busy thinking of coming down here this morning, right?"
    Kensou gave an annoyed sigh, but as he did so, his stomach gave him away with a slight growl.  He knew he'd already lost.  Not only that, but with Athena this close, he no longer had the nerve to argue.  Still, he rallied the best he could.
    "You don't even give me a chance, Athena!  You're not playing hard to get, you're just impossible!"
    She laughed and started to hop away merrily.  "Not impossible!  You're just a dreamer.  However," she said, winking and blowing him a kiss, "don't quit dreaming.  You never know."
    Kensou watched her skip merrily away, teleporting just before she rounded the corner.  He looked down at Bao, who was adjusting his stupid little hat. "Lock the door, kid.  Let's get going."
    "Ooh...someone has a crush!"
    "Of course I have a crush, you little imp!  I think that much is obvious!  Now let's go."  Kensou especially hated when Athena said things like that to him.  "You never know" is quite obvious, but she didn't say it as though she was actually considering him at all.  More like she was giving him just enough reason to keep trying.
    The door closed and the bolt slid in place.  Bao didn't have a key, but his powers would work just as well in locking a door.
    "And why do you always wear those girly, little shorts!?  Yellow, nonetheless!"
    They argued as they walked down the hall, proceeding to the stairs, descending three flights and exiting the building.  After a moment of complete silence, just before they set out down the street and out of the suburbs, Bao said, "Big sis says you look cute in shorts, Kenken."
    Kensou stopped suddenly, causing Bao to run into him.  "I..um...Yeah, but they're not small.  And don't play games with me!  You and I both know she doesn't say things like that!"
    Bao shrugged.  Kensou put it up to being a lost cause.


    They walked the streets for a quarter of an hour, passing various outdoor merchants with fruit stands and the like.  Bao pointed excitedly to a pastry shop and indicated that would do him well for breakfast.  Kensou allowed the boy to pick out his meal, and afterward went next door to an open kitchen and bought a bowl of miso soup.  They sat outside at a table with an umbrella to shade the morning sun away.  The streets weren't crowded in this small suburb-like city, but the noise of people reminded Kensou of his visits to China with the master.  He wondered what the master had been doing in Japan the past few weeks.  His visits to this part of Asia were rare in the least, but he'd been here for almost a month.  It was still another six months before the next King of Fighters tournament, and usually two months before it began Athena, Bao and himself would fly to China to train before they fought.  Kensou had a few suspicions that his visit was more than just to see them, although Kensou was still quite glad that master Chin had come to Japan.
    He pondered this while Bao devoured his meal.  He, too, finished, and they set off for the shack that the master had set up in some fields about two miles out of town.  They were mildly diverted from their destination before they'd even left the city, when Bao began shouting gleefully and pointing.
    "Look at all that neat stuff!  Can I look?" he pleaded.
    Kensou put his hand to his head.  "Master Chin wanted us..." but Bao was already running to the cart full of hand-crafted toys.  Kensou kicked the dirt and muttered something to himself, then paced over to the cart.  A few children were looking with interest, but Bao had already siezed a paper dragon on a stick.  He waved it playfully in front of Kensou's face.
    "The man says they bring good luck!  And they look really cool!"
    Kensou shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head.  "Okay, but we have to get to master Chin's�"
    "You must be from China, little boy!"  The owner of the cart, a man covered completely in a brown cloak and sporting a beard, smiled at the young boy, who had turned away from Kensou to answer the man.
    "Yes!!!  How'd you know?"
    "You talk like you're from Toukyou.  Nobody around here speaks like that but foreigners who learned Japanese from textbooks."
    Bao eyed the man curiously.  "What if I'm just from Toukyou?" he asked, sure that he'd confounded the stranger.
    "Why, that's a possibility...But you have a Chinese jacket, right?  And your outfit is quite strange for this part of town."
    Bao's jaw dropped, then he hit his own head.  This man was a genius!  Kensou thought differently, however.  The man had made a wild guess for no apparent reason, but Kensou couldn't sense any psychic ability in him.  He seemed like any other merchant on the street.
    "Well, I've got a special dragon for you, then.  It's a Chinese dragon with a long tail."
    Kensou shrugged off the suspicion and grumbled as the man produced another dragon on a stick.  He reached for his wallet.  This dragon was plaster, and the tail was made of intertwined bamboo, so it could wave back and forth.  Kensou looked at it as though it had defeated him, but the cart man smiled at him and said, "Half-price for the China boy."
    "Thanks," Kensou replied, and he meant it.  Bao was getting the choke-hold of a lifetime once they reached master Chin's.  He paid the man, and the two left for the countryside, Bao waving the dragon in the air.  When they reached the tall grass, it looked like a large dragonfly was buzzing over the field.
    "No more stops," Kensou said when they were halfway to the master's home.
    "Okay, big brother!"  Bao examined the dragon closely.  It was largely green, with two yellow strips running along its back.  The mouth was carved half-open, and the tongue curled out like that of a snake.  A smoke pattern was painted on the face, and the eyes...
    The eyes were very intriguing.  They were red marble, but they seemed to gleam.  There was something deep within them�something that the normal eye shouldn't notice�but Bao noticed it.  The glimmer had barely caught his eye, but he found himself gazing at it, wondering what it could be.  It became curious effort.  Somehow, it seemed that the shape hidden inside the red marble was drawing him in as he stared as hard as he could, determined to make out what it was.  He could almost see, was sure that he'd know what it was in another moment, when a hand reached out and grasped his collar, breaking the spell.
    "You're getting lost," Kensou scolded.  "Try and keep up, okay?"
    Bao blinked, and plodded along after Kensou once more, occasionally looking up at the eyes of the dragon as they approached the house of their teacher.


    The man who owned the toy cart smiled and removed his cloak.
    "Much too easy.  The boy doesn't even control his power enough to sense when there is danger!"
    A dark shadow appeared next to him, which was quite a feat in the morning light.  A powerfully built man emerged, all muscle and dressed darkly, with a scarf around his neck.  "He should be easy to control."
    "Indeed, my friend.  The real test should come soon enough.  Then, when we are rid of him, we will become more powerful than anyone this world has seen.  This year, at the King of Fighters tournament, they shall find that the Orochi is alive, and I alone control it..."
    The two men stared ahead.  Somehow, the crowd had departed from them, not even appearing to notice them.  One man did notice, however.  That man now made his way from the town as quickly as possible, heading for the countryside and hoping they had not spotted him spying from the rooftops.


End of Part I
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