I'm sick today so I'll be spouting out one-shots. Enjoy!

He asked her if she loved him.

And so she lied.

"No."

For a servant could never love a prince, her prince, her lord, her everything. She protected him. She sacrificed her arm, determined, she would sacrifice anything for him. It was selfish really.

Because she would not allow him to die.

"Ling... Ling!" Sweat dripped off her face, mixed with tears, her bangs sticking to her face. Her breath came sharp, and shaky, her hands running through her hair, short uneven nails catching in it. She stared out window at the full moon.

It was a dream.

Sitting up in the bed, she curled, her back bending, bending her leg until her forehead and knee met. Her arms wrapped around her leg.

And she cried.

She felt her stomach pound with sickness and nausea, unsettling. A small bump of pregnancy had began in it. Her hand found it. "Ling..."

He was gone.

And when he died.

He asked her if she loved him.

And she lied.

"No."

When his eyed closed, she had spoken. "Ling Yao... You better come back to me..." She had been forced away as physicians surrounded him, dragged away by guards. She fought, wanting to stay with him, desperate to. "Come back to me!"

An hour later they told her that he did not make it.

And the empress was left without an emperor.

Her emperor.

The happenings of that day haunted her dreams, burned into her memory harshly, as it happened only a day before, as it was the day she lost the man she loved.

She did not tell him that she loved him.

She lied, lied to spare him the pain. The pain of knowing you are leaving the one you love, the one that loves you in return. He never wanted to cause her pain.

But she was miserable, the only thing keeping her from dying, from running the blade of her kunai through her body, this was her child. She would not kill an innocent life.

Soon the pain became too much, the first months of her pregnancy hard, the first days of solitude deathly.

"Ling... Ling... I'm so selfish... I'm so sorry..."

The kunai was plunged into her heart.

And she found peace, peace in a smile, the smile stretching across his face. He welcomed her with open arms. He apologized, again and again, over and over, for his death, for the pain, the grief it caused her.

And he asked her if she loved him.

And she did not lie.

"Ling!" She awoke from this dream, the kunai abandoned beside her, the child in her belly safe. Her eyes grew wide, terror and loneliness rippling through her in waves. "Ling..."

She tried to close her eyes again, feeling them opened so wide, but they did not close. Tears flowed through them.

A rustling beside her. "You called?" His strong arms wrapped around her from behind, his trademark grin pressed into her back.

A dream.

It had all been a dream.

A dream of her selfishness.

She twisted back toward him in his arms, seeing an engagement ring sparkle on her finger, feeling the life in her stomach. "I love you."

Her arms wrapped around his neck, kissing him softly.

He chuckled, and kissed her back gladly, the simpleness of it beautiful and pleasant. "I love you too."

No more words needed to pass between them, as they broke apart, curling up together calmly, two hands intertwined, the other two, a hand from each of them, resting protectively on her stomach. He kissed her neck, and fell asleep.

She soon followed.

I am sorry about how short it is. I just like it like this. Review please!