In Heaven

DISCLAIMER: Characters are owned by KOEI. Not me :)

I've seen Xiao Qiao paired with Zhou Yu, Gan Ning, Lu Xun, and many more, but I haven't seen much of Xiao Qiao and Sun Ce. So I gave it a whirl.

Xiao Qiao brooded quietly in her room. Closing her eyes to keep the tears from swelling over, she immediately thought of him. His bright eyes, beautiful smile, and extroverted personality lifted her spirits and she smiled and sniffled. She loved him.

Standing and gliding to the window, she looked up at the dark sky. Leaning out onto the window frame, she sighed and felt sorry for herself once more. Closing her eyes again, the memories of the day came flooding back with hot tears.

It was her sister's wedding day. Everyone was overjoyed that the Little Conqueror had found someone that could give him an heir to Wu's throne. Xiao had kept her smile on overdrive that day. She did it, but it wasn't easy. Each time he looked at Da Qiao with adoration in his eyes hurt her even more, which drove her to keep smiling. Usually her sister and her fiancé would include her and Zhou Yu in their activities, but a wedding ceremony for two people so in love and devoted to one another was not a "tag-a-long" activity that anyone could participate in. Xiao knew that Da felt bad her sister wasn't being married that day too, but Da's excitement didn't allow her to dwell much on this.

The ceremony itself was any typical girl's dream. Everything went perfectly and smoothly. Xiao wasn't surprised when she found herself insanely jealous of her sister as her new husband finished the ceremony by sweeping her off her feet and kissing her like there was no tomorrow. But her permanent smile remained throughout her silent ordeal.

As if the perfect ceremony was not enough to demoralize and depress Xiao Qiao, Sun Ce's hand never left his new bride's waist during the reception. Da Qiao was glowing with a genuine smile, and Xiao truly attempted to be happy for her. But the loss of her love tormented her more than her memory of being Dong Zhuo's captive.

A sound in the inner garden below her window stirred her from her thoughts. She looked down and blushed immediately. Sun Ce was hiding underneath a bench. Apparently he had ran and jumped over it, rolling back under as if he was hiding from something. He was still dressed in the plush red formal attire he wore for his wedding but the silk ribbon that tied his ponytail up was askew. Ce looked up and saw the younger Qiao at her window. He grinned mischievously at her. Xiao almost called out to him when her sister ran into the courtyard.

Not for the first time did the sight of her older sister invoke a burning jealousy in Xiao. Ever since the two Qiaos had met their soon-to-be fiancés on the fateful night of their rescue, this feeling had sulked in the back of Xiao's thoughts. She couldn't get her mind off of one tiny detail that seemed to matter so much. Xiao knew full well that if Sun Ce had broken down the door to his right first instead of the one to his left...

"Lord Ce! Lord Ce, where are you?!" Da Qiao called, her voice ringing in the calm of the garden. He motioned for Xiao to keep quiet. She nodded and put a finger to her lips.

Sun Ce's wife scanned the garden in search of her husband. "I could have sworn I saw him run in here. Where could he have gotten to?" she wondered aloud. Looking over the garden once more, Da sighed and left to search for Sun Ce elsewhere. After a moment, Xiao leaned out and gave him thumbs up. He sighed and rolled out from beneath the bench.

Looking up at her window, he winked and grinned at Xiao. Xiao could feel her legs turn to gelatin. Thankfully, she was already leaning on something. She felt the question pass her lips even though she knew it was not her place to ask. "Why are you hiding from my big sister?"

Sun Ce looked around nervously. "Can you come down here?" he asked her. Smiling with genuine joy for the first time that day, Xiao nodded gleefully and jumped into the tree next to her window. Climbing down with her renowned grace, she landed with a small thud at the base of the tree. Ce was already waiting there for her. His eyes widened slightly and he turned away, blushing.

Xiao, confused, glanced down at herself. In her excitement, she had forgotten she was wearing a thin silk nightshirt and her usual orange short-shorts (for lack of a better word) with no shoes whatsoever. She still had her hair in a long ponytail, which swayed gently in the cool night wind. "Don't worry, Lord Sun Ce, I won't tell anyone you saw me in my pajamas," she comforted, smiling at him. "They're cute, you have to admit."

Sun Ce laughed and sat on the curved bench next to the tree. "Yes, your pajamas are adorable," he smiled.

Xiao posed, hands on her hips. "I know. But still...why are you so scared of your wife?"

Sun Ce immediately answered, "I'm not scared. I'll never be scared. I'm Sun Ce. Me and scared don't go together."

Xiao gave him a reprimanding look. "Then why were you hiding from her? Don't you like her?" Ce cast his gaze to the ground, attempting to make up an answer. "Please don't lie. You're my friend and I hope I'm yours. You can tell friends anything right?" Sun Ce looked up at her. She smiled at him immediately; he always made her smile when his eyes were on her.

Staring directly into her bluish-grey eyes with his brown ones, he whispered, "Lady Qiao, you have to promise me something right now, okay? What I say right now stays here tonight, okay?" She nodded, curious as to what the big secret was. "Alright, um, here it goes..." Sun Ce sighed. "It's not that I'm afraid of your sister, or that I don't like her, or any of that." He looked down again and tried to come up with the right words to say. Xiao sat next to him, daring to sit close enough that she could feel his warmth. He turned to her, a rosy tinge arising in his cheeks.

"What is it then?" she asked, her voice soft and gentle. He slowly leaned in and, almost like he was asking for permission, paused before his lips touched hers. Closing her eyes, she pressed her lips against his. He brought up a strong hand and cupped her face with it, bringing her closer to him. They broke apart and she looked at him, afraid and ecstatic at the same time. "Lord Sun Ce?" she breathed, covering the hand on her face with her own.

"Yes, Lady Qiao?" he replied, his voice barely audible.

"Can we do that again?" He grinned and kissed her with more force this time. She kissed him back, finding his other hand with hers and intertwining their fingers. Her heart raced as he squeezed her hand, holding the knot their hands made against his heart. Before long, they had broken apart again. Xiao buried her head in his shoulder and hugged him with her other arm. He kissed her hair and held his arms around her.

"If you did that now, why did you kiss my sister like you did today?" she asked.

"Because I'm the Little Conqueror. Everyone expects me to approach life like I approach the battlefield, even if I don't really mean it." He paused before asking, "Do you know why I was hiding now?" She nodded slowly, trying not to cry.

"Why did you have to meet my sister first?" asked Xiao suddenly, wiping her eyes once more. "If you had met me first we could have been together forever instead of just being together tonight. Why did you go into her room first?" Xiao began sobbing into his shirt, holding on tightly to his arm. He did his best to comfort her.

"Honestly, I was actually going to go in yours first. But my best friend needed someone as beautiful and fun as you more than I did. You're the sunshine in his life. Zhou Yu loves you, you know," Ce informed her quietly. "He deserves a girl like you, someone who can help him live a little. All he and your sister would do is read books and talk out their disagreements if they were together. As much as they love that, we can't let them stay inside all day, now can we?" Xiao looked up into his warm eyes and shook her head, sniffling.

Sun Ce and Xiao Qiao looked up as they heard footsteps approaching. They kissed for the last time. Xiao was about to climb up the tree when he pulled her close and whispered, "Know that whatever has happened and whatever will happen, I will always love you until the day I die."

"As will I, my conqueror. Remember that," she replied, her lips brushing his cheek before she pulled herself into the tree, into her window, and out of view.

Seconds later, Da Qiao walked into the garden. "My lord!" she cried, running over to Sun Ce and throwing her arms around him. "Where have you been?"

Xiao repeated his words over and over in her head before she went to sleep that night.

"In Heaven."

Thanks for reading! I hope it wasn't too corny :)