A/N: So this is a 1/2 Prince fanfic I've been wanting to post for a while. It's not done yet but I'll upload what I've got so far - that's about 50% of the story I reckon. So I'll do that now otherwise I'll forget for a few months again like when I started it lol.

Enjoy and please R&R ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own 1/2 Prince or any of its characters. Though I wish I did T.T The manga's awesome and I hope they'll do an anime of it at some point XD

2100 A.D.

"Don't forget about me, okay?" I whispered, close to tears as I looked from one of my two best friends - only friends - to the other. They were more like brothers to me, really.

Ling Bin stepped forward an wrapped me into a tight hug and, after a slight hesitation, his younger brother Ming Bin followed. I couldn't help but give a watery smile at his irritated expression; at sixteen and four years younger than me, he was beginning to turn into the 'typical teenage rebel' as Ling Bin often called him affectionately.

"Of course not. How could I? You're my best friend." he murmured soothingly, his hand making circular motions on my back. Then both him and Ming Bin pulled back, Ling Bin poking my mouth corners in an attempt to make me smile. It worked like always until I remembered that it would be the last time for a long while.

That made me cry even harder and I hid my face in my hands to hide my tears. Uncharacteristically gentle hands pried mine off and wiped away my tears.

"Stop crying; did your pet die or something?" Ming Bin said gruffly, pulling a tissue out from his jacket and pushing it at me. I accepted it gratefully and gave a slight hiccup. He looked at me in alarm and his eyes widened in worry, making me smile at his rare display of emotion.

I laughed when he replaced it with his customary scowl and his older brother elbowed him teasingly.

"It's okay to show you care, you know." he informed him, dodging Ming Bin's shoulder punch. I laughed once again and Ling Bin smiled at me softly, his dark eyes warm. "We'll see each other again, don't worry."

"How do you know that? Who knows what's going to happen between now and then?"

"Well, there's other ways to stay in contact than visiting." he said mysteriously and I stared at him questioningly.

"Like emails? I meant face-to-face contact."

He shook his head and Ming Bin rolled his eyes as his grin got brighter. Nevertheless, he obeyed his older brother when he made a sign at him to get something from the car. He came back with a wrapped package which he shoved at Ling Bin.

"This will help." Ling Bin said, holding it out to me. I took it from him cautiously, looking from it to him in surprise.

"For me? Why?"

"It's for your birthday, stupid!" Ming Bin said impatiently with a nearly imperceptible soft edge to it. Ling Bin gave him an annoyed look.

"You couldn't have been nicer about it?"

I smiled when they continued bantering; it really was a show of affection for another in their case. Experimentally shaking the package, I was stopped by the younger of the pair.

"Don't do that!"

"Is it fragile?" I asked, making a move to tear the paper off. Ling Bin looked at me warningly, flicking his eyes over at my house. We all turned to see my grandpa's stern silhouette standing at a window in the second story.

"You should probably hide it from your grandfather. I don't think he'd approve of you using it." he explained. I nodded and tucked it underneath my arm before looking up at the two once again.

"I'll really miss you." I told them, a lump in my throat forming. Ling Bin blinked a little rapidly before giving me a sad smile and another brief hug.

"I'll miss you too."

"Me too." Ming Bin mumbled, his head lowered. Ling Bin and I chuckled when we saw the tips of his ears turn pink underneath his white-blond hair. He snapped his head back up and glared at us before stalking toward the car. He threw himself inside with a huff before slamming the door shut to wait for his brother.

"Just make sure to open your present in secret and keep it that way." Ling Bin reminded me once more before getting it into the car himself. I was shocked out of my frozen state when he started the engine and quickly ran toward him where I rapped my knuckles on the window. He scrolled down and looked at me quizzically.

"Why do I need to keep it a secret?" I asked, a little sad that those were the last words he had said to me. That mischievous smile stole back onto his face and I narrowed my eyes the tiniest bit; he usually only looked like that if he had something in mind that would really annoy Grandpa. I glanced at Ming Bin in the passenger seat and he only blinked at me innocently.

They were definitely up to something.

"Because that's how we'll keep in contact."

After dinner I walked up to my room, disappointment welling up and then angry at myself for feeling that way. Grandpa had ignored all other nineteen birthdays I had had; why would this one have been any different?

Despite me reminding myself of that fact every year I always ended up with that twinge of sadness in the pit of my stomach. And this year had been even worse than usual since I hadn't even been able to spend it with my friends.

Up in my room, I pushed the heavy curtains aside to look out my window. The moon shone on the silhouette of the neighbouring house Ling Bin, his brother and mother had moved into eight years ago; it had always looked rather friendly and inviting for such a huge house. But without any people in it, it just seemed empty and imposing as the one I lived in.

I sighed as I remembered the day they moved in; their father had moved here due to work and Ming Bin had been hiding and crying up in the tree that was planted right between their and our garden. I had met him up there because I had been attempting to escape another of the 'lady lessons' my grandfather had forced me to take. Back then, Ming Bin had been quite a sweet eight year old and had readily struck up a friendship with me after I gave him one of the afternoon treats I had been saving for later. It took some persuading though; apparently he still believed in cooties and thought they were worse the older we were.

I laughed as I remembered telling him that no such things as cooties existed and he had pointed at my chest demanding what that was then. I got embarrassed as any twelve year old would have and shut him up by stuffing the sweet in his mouth. He immediately forgot about the whole cooties thing and we started talking. That's how Ling Bin and my maid at the time had found us - chatting in the tree and sharing sweets. I was sad when Ming Bin left; I had never been allowed the house or make friends. I had been home schooled and the only people who I had been friendly with had left. Ming Bin had promised to come back and he did, almost every day, with Ling Bin in tow. I didn't really talk much with his older brother in the beginning; he always watched us from afar and seemed rather aloof. At some point though, he began to warm up to me and the three of us became best friends. I often liked to think of them as my brothers since I didn't have anyone else around my age that I was close to.

There wasn't much grandfather could do about it - they were our neighbours and offending them by forbidding our friendship would have damaged grandfather's reputation since their father was quite a well known doctor.

And then, eight years later, Mr Zhuo's wife had died. Of course the whole family was distraught and it seemed the perfect time for their father to accept the transfer back to their home city he had been offered at work. He had left early to find a new apartment and a school for Ming Bin while Ling Bin applied and got accepted by X University. So they had left, leaving me with their last birthday present. I closed the curtains as I remembered the package and rushed to my bedside to retrieve it from underneath the mattress. It wasn't the best hiding place for it but I would find a new one. After making sure that my door was firmly closed, I ripped the paper off to see what was inside.

It looked like a computer game, a new one judging by its image. Second Life, the cover proclaimed in a rather plain script in white on a black background. Still, exactly that was what gave it a sharp edge and made me intrigued as to what it was about. I opened the thick cover and discovered a pair of strange-looking goggles inside. Setting them aside for now, I slid the instruction manual from underneath and flicked through it. I didn't understand much since I had never played a game like this in my life, but the concept of quite literally living adventures in another place other than the real world was very interesting.

I frowned as I remembered how Ling Bin had told me that this was how we would keep in contact; what did he mean? My brooding gaze fell onto the discarded wrapping paper on the floor from which a brightly coloured card poked out.

I picked it up and opened it.

Happy Birthday, An Yu!

This is Second Life, you've probably never heard of it before since you don't play stuff like this much. But it's getting pretty popular in the whole world, so I thought you might like to give it a try since not only gamers like it.

Besides that, I'll explain what I meant by using this to keep in contact. I know that your Grandpa controls all your emails and since he doesn't like me very much he would probably try to stop us from sending those. Second Life basically allows you to actually be in the game - meaning that we actually could talk and see each other etc if we both play. The only catch is that you have to keep it from your Grandpa since he would most likely just take it away from you.

I hope I'll see you in game - can't wait! Ming Bin feels the same even though he's trying to get me to erase that right now.

I laughed at that; the tell-tale scribbles around the last sentence were very obvious.

From Ling Bin & Ming Bin

PS: My birth continent is Central and my In Game name is Wicked - just ask one of the NPCs how to use the chat.

Hmm. Even with reading the manual and the card I was still a little confused. I quickly scanned the manual again before popping the Second Life disc into a slot in the side of the gaming goggles. I then gathered the card, empty gaming cover and wrapping paper to hide them underneath my mattress again before getting ready for bed. I really was intrigued as to how playing the game while sleeping would work.

I slipped underneath my bedcovers, put on my gaming goggles and pushed a button on the side. Then I closed my eyes and waited in anticipation for what would happen next.

"Wicked?" I hesitantly called once the NPC who helped create my character had sent me into the game - the Central continent to be exact.

"Hello?" his voice answered a little warily. I frowned at his tone. He couldn't possibly not recognise me.

"It's me."

"An Yu? Great! Listen, I'm in Sun City right now. Do you want to meet up?"

"Sure. I'm here right now, actually."

"Oh, good. Do you know exactly where you are?"

"Uh..." I glanced at my surroundings and then up at the building right beside me. "I'm standing beside this huge arena."

"Okay, I know where that is. We'll be right there." Wicked promised and exited the chat before I could ask who he meant by 'we'.

That question was answered soon enough when he, Ming Bin and two other people I didn't know emerged from a side alley.

"Hi. I didn't know you would already be playing so soon." Wicked greeted me with a side hug and a warm smile. I looked up at him with wide eyes.

"You look so different from normal." I remarked as I took in his appearance. Overall, he still looked much the same as in real life but now his skin was rather dark, his hair was a luminous silver-white colour instead of dirty blond. It was long and bound in a high ponytail and his eyes were emerald green.

Wicked shrugged in a helpless gesture.

"Since this game allows you to look any way you want, I might as well use it."

"Oh." I said stupidly. Of course I should have thought about that. I hadn't changed anything about my appearance except my eye colour.

"Who's the cutie?" one of the unknown people piped up from behind Wicked. I blinked at him confusedly when he winked. I turned my head to look behind me but there was no one there. Then I heard laughter from in front of me - coming from the one who had winked. Ming Bin was scowling at his back while the other unknown person was still as expressionless as before. I noted that Ming Bin's eyes were the same shade as Wicked's.

"Come on, Wicked. Introduce us." the one who laughed said invitingly, his ice blue eyes glued to my face. Wicked rolled his eyes and elbowed the other one in the side when he held out a hand for me to shake.

"None of that, Playboy. She's my best friend." he said in a warning tone. The grin didn't drop off Playboy's face; it may even have gotten a little wider.

"Best friend, huh?"

"Keep you hands off of her. She's like our sister." Ming Bin hissed, grabbing the taller man by the collar. Playboy only chuckled lightly and ran his hand through his shoulder length white hair.

"I'll do whatever she wants me to do." he said suggestively, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. I blushed and looked downward until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"How about I introduce you to someone who has manners?" Wicked said, looking at Playboy sharply who was studying a poster on the side of the building. I nodded and he gestured at the other two with us.

"You obviously already know Ming Bin, but his In Game name is Ming Huang and he's a human wizard. We all call him Miwa though."

I grinned as Miwa stuck out his tongue and glared at his brother at the sound of that name. Ignoring his childish antics, Wicked gestured at the one who had stayed silent.

"That's Marksman. He's an elven archer."

I smiled at him tentatively when he nodded at me in acknowledgement.

"And, well, Playboy you know already. He's a human thief."

Suddenly I felt an arm around me shoulder and flinched as I stared right into Playboy's grinning face.

"And just so you know - I don't only steal materialistic valuables."

"Right." Wicked cut in, removing his arm from my shoulder. I gave him a grateful look and a smile which he returned warmly. Playboy pouted and went back to Marksman who inched away a little from him.

"Just make sure you stay away from him."

"Sure." I replied and then looked up at Wicked. "So, what class are you and so on?"

"I'm a dark elf warrior." he answered willingly before looking me up and down. I felt heat rise to my cheeks at his close scrutiny and held my breath. "I haven't seen anyone like you before. What are you?"

Reprimanding myself for the twinge of disappointment in the pit of my stomach - what was that anyway? - I noticed that the other three were looking at me for an answer as well. I fiddled with my staff nervously and smiled at them.

"I'm a celestial priest. Oh, and my In Game name is Black Lily."

Haha, so yeah, An Yu's not an OC. Sort of. And I've posted the link of how I imagine she would look like, it's on my profile.

Don't forget to review! ^^