ken and ryu first met at a barber shop in north haverford, south carolina. ken was there visiting a sick uncle and ryu was inside the video game. ken arrived to the barber shop early, so he played on the arcade they had there. he wasn't terribly satisfied with his haircut, but it was good enough. It was summer, after all, and the important thing was that it was short. Not short short- Ken always likes his hair and wasn't a fan of crew cuts, but it was up above his ears and eyes, which was important.

Ken needed to be able to fit all his hair easily into a swim cap. Not that he swam competitively- not in the least. but Ken did spend a lot of time swimming in the creek on his grand parents property, some hundred miles from nh, sc.

as long as he remembered, ken loved swimming in the creek but hated the idea that some critter could get caught in his hair, so he wore the cap. he'd get made fun of for it on occassion- swimming caps being mainly the province of old ladies, fast swimmers, and public-pool goes, but ken had thick skin and it never bothered him much at all.

ken wasn't much impressed with ryu and hardly noticed the character he shared a name with, though he did like the military guy with the long hair, though he worried- what if some character throws him into the water? what kind of critters might get into his fighter's hair? he didn't worry about it too long- soon it was time for him to sit down in the chair and make small talk.

Seeing an uncle, no sir, no sir, yes sir. a few miles, but we'd meet at the diner on palmetto and bryant. no, thank you. yes sir.

after the haircut, he paid and wandered down toward palmetto, but he was early, so he took a nap under a tree just about a block and a half from the diner. His aunt- she married to the sick uncle, saw him- he stuck out, being asleep on a main road in a small town- and honked the horn at him. He was startled, but not too bad, and he got in the car for the quick block and a half drive to the diner.