Striding along the walkway beside a Venetian canal, Sakura Yugure pondered all the things she'd found out from the Gypsy mystic Rose a few minutes ago. {So I could become like Akuma if I'm not careful, huh? That's not good... I'll have to keep Rose's advice in mind all the time, keep my powers and my emotions in check. I wonder what happened to make that wierd 'dark spot' in the middle of her studio, though? She didn't seem hurt, but somehow I *know* there was pain tied up in whatever caused that. And she has a student now? I'll have to tell Ryu, he mentioned that Rose was kind enough to counsel him about the danger of his Satsu no Hadou potential...}

Thinking these and many other similar thoughts, Sakura wandered, not really going anywhere in particular as much as letting her legs share in the exercise her mind was getting - namely, roaming all over.

Several long minutes later, she paused as something nudged at her awareness. It wasn't anything she knew, like a martial artist's danger sense, but it was almost familiar; a tingle at the edges of her mind, a taste on the back of her tongue, like odd spices; a ringing in her ear that wasn't noise at all. Looking around, she noticed that the streets were deserted and that the lights in the area all seemed to have gone out, or else not come on in the first place. There was something else odd about the tableau, but it took her a moment to realize it.

{I can see perfectly!} Sakura realized. {Even with so little light, I can see as well as at twilight! I really am changing...}

She would have spared more time for that disturbing thought, but a set of sounds quite familiar to her drew her from her introspection. From an alley off to her right echoed the thump and smack of flesh meeting flesh; the staccato beat of feet on the brick of the roads; and less often, the whoosh and hiss of unleashed *chi.*

Racing over to the alley, she peeked down it to see two most unusual fighters clashing; a woman whose outfit was patterned with bats and had wings on its back, and a very large man in a cloak which seemed to channel his *chi,* for as he leaped up above the woman and spiraled down at her, the cloak wound into a tight cone around him rather than flying wide as physics would have dictated.

The woman was at a severe disadvantage. For a moment, Sakura wasn't sure why; then the woman thrust out a hand as if to punch the man, who was far out of reach, and cried, "SOUL FIST!"

The *chi* building up around her flickered and died, and a strip of paper stuck to her arm glowed briefly. {Was that an *ofuda* - a Japanese spirit-ward?} Sakura wondered, as the woman cursed and dodged away from the man's grip, but cornered herself between the alley wall and a dumpster.

The man turned to face the woman, showing his face to Sakura, and said, "Now, sweet Morrigan, you are mine." As he spoke, he smiled, stretching his lips into a too-wide and toothy grin, the likes of which Sakura had only seen on one man.

The size, the smile, and the taint of Darkness on him (and only later would Sakura wonder how she'd felt *that*) made the likeness too close, and fury boiled and exploded in her at the man who she saw superimposed on this one, the man who had violated her Ryu...

"BISON!!!" she screamed as she charged to the attack.

Demitri whipped around at the outraged cry, seeing a human girl with glowing eyes and *chi-*flared fists race towards him. {Hmph. Amusing, but I don't need a distraction now. That ward may have blocked some of Morrigan's powers, but I don't want to give her time to escape.} With that, he lashed one hand out, hurling a ball of flame. "Chaos Flare!"

His shock was total when she casually cancelled it with a *chi*-ball of her own and raced in with an uppercut that sent him briefly airborne.

Morrigan blinked. She'd sensed another power approaching, but she'd been expecting a Darkstalker, not some human girl. {Never mind - if I can just get this ward off, I can leave Demitri behind or destroy him.} She clawed at the paper adhering to her arm, but she couldn't quite touch it, the protections keeping her from removing it directly. {Very well then, another approach,} she decided, scraping her arm across the stone wall. She was gratified to hear paper beginning to tear.

Checking back on Demitri, she was surprised to find him still engaged with the girl - she'd expected him to make quick work of a Human. Focusing her senses in on the child while still scraping the ward on the wall, Morrigan was surprised again to feel something vaguely familiar about her...

Sakura uppercutted the big man into the air, kicked him as he began to drop back down, and lashed out with a straight right hand that sent her foe careening into a wall. She wasn't truly *thinking* at the moment - she was operating on instinct, and it felt *right.* Rose's advice was forgotten in the back of her mind, buried under a rush that she'd never really felt before.

She'd realized from the moment he'd thrown fire at her that he wasn't Bison - Bison's chi-balls were spheres of dark lightning, not comet-shaped bolts of fire - but he had obviously been attacking the woman while she was at a severe disadvantage, and so Sakura felt no remorse at the mistake, only a sense of purpose as she focused on her enemy.

The man hit the ground and glided quickly towards her, taking to the sky while spinning in one of the innumerable knockoffs of the trademark Shotokan uppercut, Sho-Ryu-Ken.

Grinning at the familiar tactic, she used a familiar counter: she blocked, shoved the man upward, and hit him with a short Sho-Oh-Ken while he was above her, sending him further skyward.

Not satisfied, she then followed up with a skill she'd learned from Captain America and Spider-Man: she focused energy into her legs and leaped up, pacing the dark man as they rose to the top of their arc, just above rooftop level, and launched a fast and hard combination that Spider-Man had dubbed the 'Aerial Rave.' A short volley of punches and kicks was ended by a double-fisted blow that spiked the man down to the alley floor like a volleyball, except that he didn't bounce nearly as well. As she began to drop, Sakura focused *chi* into her legs to absorb the shock of her landing and smiled, perfectly at home and content in battle.

Then she saw that the man had gotten up and was timing a huge fireball to hit her as she landed.

"VAMPIRE RAGE!"

Demitri snarled as the enhanced fireball connected, setting the girl on fire and knocking her down. That had *hurt!* This girl hit with strength beyond Human, and there was a darkness to her as well: not the momentary diversion that Demitri had expected, but a worthy foe! His snarl became a fanged grin as the girl kippuped to her feet, the exaltation of battle that was familiar to all Darkstalkers surging through him. He concentrated briefly and his form dissolved into a swarm of nearly a hundred bats made of fire, and he flew at her, scorching her on all sides and reforming behind her in his Demon's Horde maneuver.

Morrigan winced as Demitri attacked the girl: now that he wasn't holding back, the battle would likely be over in moments. She scraped the ward across the wall harder and faster in her attempt at escape, but stopped in shock as she realized what seemed so familiar about the girl. {She's an embodied division of spirit!} Morrigan realized, {Like my... 'sister,' Lilith!} All thoughts of abandoning the girl flew from her and she worked at the ward in desperation as she saw the signs that Demitri was beginning his final, and deadliest, attack.

Sakura blocked the swarm of fire as best she could and spun to face the dark man, her face a broad grin and her blood singing. This was a *Challenge!* Honda and the others had seemed like child's play when she'd fought them: she'd had to work at it, but she'd been holding back on most of her powers, making exhilirating matches into mere sparring. This was the old thrill back again and more; for a brief moment, she finally understood why Ryu thought 'the fight is all.'

As she finished her spin, the dark man reformed himself and glided toward her, one hand extended: recognizing a move similar to the Shun-Goku-Satsu was beginning, she slapped up a hand to knock his arm away.

The moment her hand touched his, there was a twisting and a disorientation, and she found herself dangling from his hand by her neck. A look down revealed her body had changed: both for better and for worse.

Better, because she was taller, older, and more curved, in all the right places. {Even Ryu would pay attention if I came to him like this,} Sakura mused, jolted out of the non-thought of combat.

Worse, because the change had done something to her. Her arms and legs hung limp; she tried to lift them, to break free, but her entire body was so... *heavy...*

Looking back up, she saw the face of the dark man leering at her... with glowing, compelling red eyes and two very prominent fangs. "A..Are wa.. Kyuketsuki desu!!" (Y-You are.. a vampire!!) Sakura gasped.

The dark man grinned wider. "Yes. I am Demitri, Lord of Vampires... and I must say, from the look of you, you will be a prize when you grow up. Perhaps I'll visit you then... but for now, enjoy the Midnight Bliss."

With that, he ran his free hand up her body, making her scream in rage at her helplessness... then he bit her, and the feel of blood, chi, and life being drained out of her made her scream in another way entirely.

Tossing the girl's limp body to the ground, Demitri turned to face Morrigan again, giving her a fanged grin as he saw how she was scraping at the ward. "Inspired, my dear Morrigan... but alas, only someone with a Human soul can mar or remove the ward... besides myself, of course," he gloated.

Advancing, he licked his fangs. The girl had been quite tasty, a mix of flavours from innocence to savagery, but she would be nothing next to Morrigan.

Morrigan took in Demitri's statement with a curse and prepared to defend herself... then stifled a gasp as she looked behind Demitri, to the girl in the mouth of the alleyway. She had gotten up after the Midnight Bliss, a feat Morrigan wasn't sure she could have managed so quickly, and on top of that she was radiating enough rage and power to match either Darkstalker before her...

Her body returned to normal the moment it was free of this 'Demitri,' and Sakura had no sooner crashed to the ground than she was prying herself upright again. For the second time in her life, she burned with the desire to cause someone else pain... and for the *first* time in her life, it had nothing to do with Ryu. Her entire focus was on the man who had just violated her mind, body and spirit.. and she glowed with a dark aura as she *flew* forward just above the ground.

Demitri turned his head as her hand touched his shoulder... and darkness engulfed them, the Kanji for 'Hell' appearing in flames on the sphere of blackness.

Seconds later, the sounds of breaking bone and tearing flesh subsided, and the darkness vanished, leaving Sakura standing enraged over Demitri's body. Looking up from the ground, a shocked expression quickly gave way to panic on his face, and he threw himself out from under her, transformed into a bat, and flew off as fast as his wings could carry him.

Morrigan looked on in shock as Demitri fled. {That move was at least the equal of the Midnight Bliss or my Oshiyokki Yo... Who *is* this child?} she wondered.

The child blinked, shook her head, and looked up at Morrigan with an expression the succubus was far too familiar with - guilt. {The girl feels she's done something wrong - whatever *for?*} Morrigan wondered, then winced as the girl began to look as if she might cry.

To avert that - she hated crying - Morrigan smiled at her. "Hello. I'm Morrigan Aensland - thank you for saving me. Who are you?" she asked.

The girl blinked. "Ano.. Sakura. Sakura Kas... eh.. Sakura Yugure. I'm sorry," she began, gesturing around at herself and the alley, but Morrigan would have none of it.

"Oh, hush. You rescued me quite heroically, and I won't hear of any apologies. But... if I could ask a favour... could you pull this off?" she implored, gesturing to the ward still stuck to her arm. "It's blocking my powers.."

The girl shook her head, as if to clear it, and walked up to Morrigan. Reaching forward, she grabbed the ward and tugged, tearing it off and shredding it. Feeling the surge of her powers renewed, Morrigan sighed and morphed her outfit into the tight-fitting clothes she favoured in the Human world. "Ah, thank you," she said, smiling as Sakura gawked at her changing clothes. "I have a hotel room near here... would you like to stay there for tonight by way of thanks? It's quite nice..." Morrigan enticed with her voice.

In a moment, the girl nodded. "Okay."