Dao De Jing

Chapter 1

The Encounter

Disclaimer: I've been wanting to do this AU where Oliver meets Shado a few years before the island of Lian Yu for awhile now but haven't for whatever reason. But when I got a guest review in 'CSIs And Lawyers' suggesting I do a full on story with the two, I decided to finally run with it. However, don't expect frequent updates due to my other projects unless I'm just in the mood to ensure somewhat frequent updates. And no, I haven't forgotten about 'Quirks', I will be getting back to that very soon! Now, on with the show!

A Club

"Dude! What is with you tonight!?" Asked one Tommy Merlyn just loud enough to be heard over the loud music as he and his best friend and brother in all but blood, Oliver Queen, sat down at the club's bar where the bartender made and served drinks and requested their own.

Both respectively were the sons of two of the richest families in Starling City, Washington. Oliver's family owns and runs Queen Consolidated with his father, Robert Queen, as the head of it. Tommy however, his father, Malcolm Merlyn, is the head of Merlyn Global and like the two of them, their fathers are best friends as well. Though where as Robert is a loving man, Malcolm is a cold sort of man after the loss of his wife years ago that Tommy honestly can't stand and wants to be nothing like him. Even wishing more than once that Robert was his true father instead of Malcolm. Both boys had come to the club tonight to have a little fun and escape reality for a few hours. Tommy watched as Oliver agitatedly blew out a breath before speaking again. "Those girls were all over you and yet you're not even trying to score like you normally would!"

"Yeah, I know! I'm just… I'm just not interested, man!" Shot back the dirty Blonde haired man in an agitated manner.

Which was a weird thing in and of itself as Oliver loved spending time with the ladies of Starling. Though he had certainly tuned it down a tad after he started dating Laurel aside from a moment here and there. "Did you and your dad get into it again, bro?"

Oliver just shook his head as the bartender handed him a drink, one that he quickly drank and requested another. "No, Laurel, man. We got into it again."

"Seriously? That's like the 5th time in three weeks!"

Unfortunately, it wasn't even really an exxageration either as the two had been arguing more than usual lately and Tommy was pretty damned certain the two were headed for another break up. The two had even been together for roughly 3 years, having gotten together in their senior year of high school. Oliver just sighed in that agitated manner of his. "Yeah… Same shit too. I'm not serious enough about anything and I need to be if I expect to get anywhere in life as I can't expect to get by on good looks and my family's money and blah blah blah." Grumbled the young man sourly.

"Never mind the fact I've told her more than once I want nothing to do with the family company and all that shit. That I want to be my own man. Might as well be talking to a brick wall like my parents for all the good trying does me."

Tommy frowned at his best friend as he knew Laurel was highly goal oriented and tended to not see certain things unless you really threw it at her because of that orientation. "So did you two break up again?"

Oliver just shook his head. "No, not yet. I walked out before things could get worse between us. And joy of joys, daddy Lance was around too." Informed the young man sourly.

As that asshole just couldn't leave things well enough alone. Tommy winced in sympathy for his best friend as the animosity between Oliver and Detective Lance was practically legendary at this point. Even before Ollie and Laurel started dating the two were at odds and when the two teenagers got together, things just got worse. "Man… I'm sorry to hear that."

"Not your fault, buddy, but thanks anyway."

"So why not just lose yourself in a few girls?"

"Like I said before, not interested, buddy. And even if I did, it'd only be a temporary escape and then I'd be right back where I started." And that would just suck even more.

A nod of understanding came from his best friend. "That… That actually makes sense."

"I have my moments." Muttered Oliver somewhat dryly.

Tommy chuckled and slapped him on the back as a rather beautiful girl came past the two of them and Tommy, being Tommy, couldn't let an opportunity to pass. "Ooh, would it make me a terrible friend to go after the really hot girl that just came by us?"

"Nah, I'll be fine on my own. No need in both of us being miserable."

"Thanks, buddy!" And with that and a pat on the shoulder, Tommy was off to mingle with the girl whom had caught his eye.

"Troubled minds often make for a troubled road, finding a peaceful solution allows for a less troubled road to travel upon."

Oliver's head quickly turned to his left in confusion and saw a dark haired girl putting down her drink. "I'm… I'm sorry?"

His confused response had her turning towards him and the Billionaire Playboy couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful looking she was. And noticing she was perhaps Japanese or Chinese or of some other type of Asian ethnicity. "I'm, I'm sorry, I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with your friend." She told him with a small blush on her cheeks.

"Oh. So that's where the weird fortune cookie saying came from then?"

"Something like that. But none the less, it is true."

Oliver looked at her doubtfully before shrugging. "Right. I'll uhh… I'll keep that in mind."

The mystery woman nodded at him and the two didn't speak for a short time as both drinked their respective drinks. Her's being water while his was Whiskey until he chose to break the silence between them, finding himself curious as to what sort of fortune she'd have for him that might help him. "So… What would you have in mind that would help get me off the rocky road or whatever?"

"Well, don't expect me to fall in bed with you in order to ease it for a time as such a thing is not my way." Informed the girl bluntly and causing him to chuckle and having an idea that aside from hearing his conversation with Tommy, that she was probably somewhat aware of who he is in Starling.

Either that, or had been played before by other men. "Any other time, I'd be taking you up on that challenge." He told her semi-seriously with a short lived grin.

His mystery friend regarded him for a moment before speaking. "I would suggest finding a way to get through to this… Laurel, that you are unhappy with how things in life are. But without causing some sort of trouble that would possibly burn a bridge as the saying goes." She told him and he gave that some serious thought for a short time.

"And what would you have to say in regards to parents who want certain things for you that you yourself don't want?" Wondered the young man curiously after several minutes.

"I would say much the same thing. You are stuck on two roads at once, but are finding yourself unable to go anywhere because of this. You must find a way to go in the direction that you want. How that is achieved, I'm afraid I couldn't give you any advice on as you'd have to find that out on your own."

"Damn." Somewhat mock grumbled Oliver, causing her to give him a small smile.

An idea then occurred to Oliver. "Do you wanna get out of here for awhile and talk somewhere quieter?"

The girl raised her eyebrows at him for a moment, causing him to raise his hands up in a defensive manner. "Hey, all I wanna do is talk, I swear."

She studied him for a moment and then nodded. "I can see you are being honest and in return, I too will be honest, I didn't even want to be here but a few friends from class wanted to be here."

"And so here you are, guess I might have to thank those friends of yours." She chuckled at that before finishing off her drink.

And once the two had let their respective friends know what was going on, the two made their leave in Oliver's car. Talking as they did so and if Oliver was being honest with himself, it was greatly refreshing and freeing. As this girl had no highly placed notions or judgements where he was concerned and he was liking it a lot. The fact he wasn't trying anything with her and nor was she trying anything was also kind of different but not in a bad way either. "You know… For someone so young, you've got a lot of wisdom." Remarked Oliver as the two walked chose to walk the block to her house sometime later.

His mystery friend just smiled and ducked her head for a moment. "Ba is something of a wise man so I suppose you could say it rubbed off on me."

He looked at her in coonfusion for a moment. "'Ba'?"

"Oh, yes, its Mandarin for 'father'."

"Oh, cool."

Idly, Oliver wondered how his dad would react to him calling him that for awhile and couldn't help but smile at it. "Something amusing in that head of yours?"

"Yeah, just wondering how my dad would handle me calling him 'Ba' is all." He told her honestly.

She smiled at that as the two continued their walk in a comfortable silence until he broke it. "So, where's Mandarin from if you don't mind me asking?"

"China. I lived there with my father and sister before he chose to move us here."

"You like it here?"

"Its… Become something of an acquired taste since we came here. Would I go back to China if given a chance? Possibly, possibly not. But here in America, I at least have more opportunity then I would have had back home."

"And having opportunity is an important thing." He remarked in return and gaining a nod in return.

"Mmm… That is true. And it appears we are here at my home."

Oliver blinked at that and realized they had stopped in front of a beautiful forest green two story house complete with a rather nice lawn. Neither all that impressive considering his life but it certainly looked more homely then his own home did. "Huh, looks rather homely."

"It can be. And thank you for tonight, Oliver."

"No, thank you. Tonight's been different in ways I'll probably never experience again so I'm gonna cherish it as much as possible." He told her seriously with a smile on his lips.

A smile she returned before making her way to her house. "Oh, wait! I never got your name!"

The woman turned back to face him on her porch and called out. "My name is Shado."

And with that, she made her way inside to her home after waving goodbye to him, leaving Oliver on his own and smiling to himself. "Huh, awesome name." He muttered to himself before walking away and back to his car to head on home.

Once there and showered up, he dropped onto his bed on his back with a release of breath and thought about the night he'd just had. Part of him even hoping he'd see Shado again at some point and hoped he could put some of her words to use where Laurel and his parents were concerned. "Man… I hope it works." Sighed the young Queen Scion to himself before falling asleep and thoughts of Shado on his mind.

Author's Notes: I don't know how long of a story this is going to be but I do know its more than likely going to be a very different one compared to what I usually write. Hopefully I handled things well in this first chapter as I realize Shado was probably a bit stiff where her dialogue was concerned. But considering the two just met and its not under horrible circumstances, its to be expected I suppose! And no, I'm not going to paint Laurel as a horrible person either, so no worries there. R and R!