Disclaimer: I dun even care if Yue Ying existed or not, this is a Dynasty Warriors fic, just live with it. Oh and I'm taking the "napping" concept from the novel , because I think it'll be fun. :3 And of course, Dynasty Warriors is not mine.

Butterfly

It was one of those events in life that came unexpectedly, but it wasn't the bad kind of unexpectedly. In fact, back then, it was a situation where something good could come out of it, or something extremely terrible, not something… great. She never expected it to come out great. She was always a bit too smart for her own good (and, as some family friends claimed, "un-ladylike"), and in a land where men where always honored for their talents, women were just mere displays of beauty no matter how talented they were. She often thought this to herself bitterly as she worked, sometimes on writing, sometimes on studying, and sometimes on creating a new invention. She enjoyed working with designs and her hands, a trait her mother always said should be used for food instead of random contraptions.

Her family wasn't critical of her, though, thank god. They would never boast about her unique talents in inventing, but they never criticized it either. Despite being a family with no important rank, her father managed to get her a martial arts teacher, and she was always eternally grateful for that. Still, every day after her lessons, she would practice outside of her home with her spear and earn random comments from women and men alike. Some teased her and she was fine with that, but some gave her disapproving looks and said things like "she's never going to get married." She was fine with that as well, to some extent. Even if it was a little arrogant, she comforted herself with the theory that no man would be able to understand her intellect anyway.

That's why when her father and mother sat her down one day to discuss an "important" matter, she never dreamed that marriage would come up. Yue Ying blinked in surprise when her parents announced their intentions. She would have asked questions like "Who is he? What is he like?," but the truth of it was, she was too shocked that her father actually got someone to consider her hand in marriage. Yue Ying almost believed that her father must have gotten someone from the heavens, because no one else on earth would consider her. After all, she wasn't very pretty, she practiced martial arts and inventing, and she was somewhat hard to order around without good reason. Any "normal" man would have divorced her within a week at the most.

"I have arranged a meeting between you two tomorrow afternoon." her father said.

"Who is this man?" Yue Ying managed to ask.

At this, her father smiled as if he accomplished the greatest task of his life. "The 'Sleeping Dragon,' Zhuge Liang."

Even Yue Ying was impressed with her father this time. The great "Sleeping Dragon" was somewhat a gossip story around their hometown. He wasn't quite a legend yet, but he made a rather impressive name for himself throughout the land. But factually, he was a hermit who often locked himself up to study and only had contact with his closest friends and his family. It was odd that her father even had the sudden intelligence to think of possibly the only person in the land that could be suitable for her. A little more cheerful about the meeting, Yue Ying teased her father. "How did you accomplish that, father? I'm sure Zhuge Liang would be the last person on anyone's mind for a possible suitor for their daughter."

Her mother laughed. "Actually, your father and I were talking about you since you have become of age and all. He didn't cross our minds either, but surprisingly he sent a messenger over to us asking about you!" she explained excitedly.

"Zhuge Liang…. asked for me?" Yue Ying questioned somewhat timidly, feeling for the first time, the blood rush up to her face.

"The messenger said that Zhuge Liang heard about your talents and wished to possibly meet you and discuss future plans in marriage." Her father added. Yue Ying was once again surprised that her hobbies even reached that far from home. For the first time in her life, she actually felt somewhat nervous. She wasn't too much different from the "Sleeping Dragon" himself in all actuality, aside from the times she went outside to train, she never interacted with anyone else other than her own family. She didn't have particularly good friends because of her eccentricity and within her whole town (although everyone knew her) she had not successfully had a decent conversation with anyone. After agreeing to meet with Zhuge Liang, Yue Ying excused herself and went to her room, leaving her parents happily chatting about her possible engagement.

She relaxed on her bed and grabbed her nearby spear, held it in front of her, and ran her fingers gently down the handle while examining the blade. She fell backwards with a sigh onto her pillow, still loosely holding onto the weapon by her side. A wall of feelings she never felt before suddenly started to overwhelm her. She never dreamed she would be where she was now: anticipating the meeting of a possible husband (let alone Zhuge Liang). She lay in her room for the rest of the day feigning tiredness, until the sky turned dark. After setting her spear back in place, she rolled into her blankets and tried to sleep.

To her surprise, she thought how nice it would be to have someone sleeping right beside her.

The next morning, she awoke to her mother hurrying her along her usual morning routine and a new set of clothing on her bed after she had bathed herself. It was a beautiful silk dress with long sleeves. It was a simple white color with purple flowers etched onto the sleeves and the bottom of it. The top that came with it was pure white with a single flower. Not too overjoyed in seeing the expensive garment in front of her, she told her mom with an awkward smile that it was beautiful and asked how in the world she got it. Her mother just smiled happily, told her not to worry about it, and just to put it on so that she could fix her hair next. Yue Ying touched her shoulder length, chestnut colored hair. She had never fixed it, nor let it grow long (although her mother tried persuading her to) not even when she was younger. She enjoyed leaving it simple, short, and out of the way.

But seeing her mother so happy made her feel as if she would disappoint her greatly if she simply refused to do as she was told because of her tom-boyish nature. She held back her disgust as she slipped on the dress (which was, in her opinion, very inconvenient) and let her mother tie back her hair. She secretly was relieved that make-up was hard to come by otherwise she was sure her mother would have gotten some for her as well. Lastly, she was given a hair pin to wear for good luck. As she stepped out of her room, her father immediately smiled and commented on how beautiful and feminine she looked, holding her by the arms to get a closer look. Yue Ying wasn't quite capable of blushing, so she smiled instead.

As they lead her out of the house, she was even more surprised to find a carriage had been arranged for her (courtesy of her family friends). About to protest that she could have easily gotten to her destination much quicker if she rode her horse alone, she realized that there was no way she could have done that in her current outfit. In fact, when her parents were sending her off, Yue Ying slapped herself mentally for wanting to bring her spear with her, but she still had secretly brought a change of clothes for herself anyway claiming the bundle to be gifts.

Even if Zhuge Liang was impressed, and not disapproving of her talents, he was still a man. Bringing a weapon to his home might not have been the best course of action, not to mention it would have made her seem even less feminine. As she sat in the carriage by herself, she wondered what type of man the hermit would turn out to be. Well for one, he was known to be a heavenly man that possessed great intellect. That was about all Yue Ying knew about him, however, and she played with her sleeves as she anxiously anticipated their meeting.

As the hours passed by, she felt the bumpiness of the carriage come to a certain stop. Taking a deep breath, she lightly hit herself on both of her cheeks and told herself that she was more than capable of meeting and speaking with a man. Managing not to trip as she stepped out of the carriage, she took in her surroundings. The house she was in front of was not spectacular, but it seemed like a comfy, small home. The backyard stretched for endless miles consisting of valley land, and weeping willows were seen growing in abundance next to a river that ran right behind the house. She thanked the townsmen who escorted her and walked along the dirt path towards her destination until she met up with a young boy outside the hut.

"Excuse me, is Zhuge Liang in? I am Yue Ying."

The boy looked at the visitor with very amused look. "Yes, my master is inside." he replied. "But he took an afternoon nap and still hasn't woken up yet." Yue Ying tried not to let an exasperated expression escape her. The concept of napping was not unusual for a hermit, of course, but the fact that he took a nap anyway even though he knew she was coming somewhat un-nerved her. The boy asked if he should go and wake him up, but not wanting to be rude, she told him to that she could wait. The boy nodded and led Yue Ying to a place with a low table, a single window, but most weirdly of all with Zhuge Liang sleeping soundly in his bed.

"Is this really okay? I could wait in a guest room or anywhere else…" she asked, feeling a little awkward. The boy smiled and said that his master's room was okay and left to attend to his duties after he served her tea. Yue Ying sat knelt with her feet beneath her, looking around at her surroundings, not sure what to do. She felt strange, being in a man's room that she hardly knew at all, and on top of that, while he was napping. The sound of him breathing slowly in the background was enough to make her agitated. As she considered her possibilities, she noticed that scattered on the table was various documents containing different historical texts and some diagrams. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to take a look, she glanced towards Zhuge Liang's bed before she picked up some of the drawings. Something inside of her lit up as she realized that inventing was not only her hobby alone, but also a peculiar past time of her suitor. The invention on the page was a crossbow weapon of some sort with instructions detailing how the inside worked.

She frowned a little at the actual structure, for she found little things that would prevent the smoothness of the actual delivery of the arrows. Her inner self longed for a brush and some ink to correct some of these mistakes, but she would have never dared to touch work that was not hers in the first place. A small rustling sound nearly startled her. Zhuge Liang had turned over and his blankets had fallen a little to the side of the bed. Feeling some sort of motherly instinct, she got up from her position and gently pulled the covers over his shoulders again. It was then she laid eyes on him for the first time.

His skin was not as pale as Yue Ying thought it would be, and much to her surprise, he was very handsome. He was perhaps only a few years older than she, with a small amount of facial hair growing beneath his long nose and his chin. His hair, a startling, rich black, was untied and fell very well past his shoulders and reached midway down his back. The hermit moved again, a small sound escaping from his lips and, this time, to her dismay, he was waking up. Quickly she backed away, but his hand had swiftly, but gently, grabbed hers before she could go any further.

"Ah, you must be…Lady Yue Ying." he said with a peculiar humor in his voice. Yue Ying felt shivers travel up her spine when she heard his voice: smooth and deep, yet airy with a heavenly accent. She looked into his now open eyes, which were very dark with the slightest hint of a brown coloring.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been…"

A small laugh from the "Sleeping Dragon" cut her off. "It's quite alright. Forgive me for my appearance." he responded, letting go of her and slowly emerging from the bed. Yue Ying watched him as he retrieved his robe from a small chair at the corner of the room and slipped it on. He stopped and looked towards the table, and her heart nearly stopped when she noticed that he was looking at his documents, which were now scattered differently from before.

Picking up the few sheets with the inventions on them, he glanced over them and without turning around asked, "What do you think… of this invention?"

Yue Ying bowed a little, thankful that he wasn't angry, and replied, "I think it's marvelous…," hiding her opinions for fear that they might have displeased him.

"Hmm…" Zhuge Liang said as he placed the papers underneath the table and cleared away all the other sheets as well. He called for the young boy to serve some tea, and then he and Yue Ying were seated at the table across from each other. They exchanged greetings and drank their tea slowly. The "Sleeping Dragon" looked over Yue Ying's appearance.

"You are very charming today, my lady." he commented.

She bowed slightly again. "Thank you."

After that, they sat in silence for some time. While Yue Ying couldn't help but feel awfully nervous about the current atmosphere, Zhuge Liang appeared calm and undisturbed. His expressions were un-readable, and that was one thing Yue Ying found frightening, for she could not tell if he was pleased or not. While scrambling to think of something to say, she noticed his tea cup was nearly empty after he set it back down on the table. Rising a little, she offered to pour him some more from the teapot. Although Zhuge Liang insisted that she was a guest, she claimed she didn't mind. Unfortunately, although Yue Ying wasn't poor at all when it came to pouring tea, in a dress she could not manage to perform the action smoothly and ended up knocking over the teacup while she was filling it.

Apologizing, she frantically started to wipe up the mess with her sleeves, only to realize that what she was doing certainly wasn't appropriate for a lady and immediately stopped. Zhuge Liang made no expression, but only looked on.

"It seems you are not quite comfortable in your attire." he stated simply.

'Well, it would take a genius to figure that out now wouldn't it?,' Yue Ying thought sarcastically to herself. She wasn't particularly angry towards him because of the comment, but she knew that already without it having to be told to her again. Zhuge Liang, showing no signs of annoyance, called for the young boy to clean up the mess and asked Yue Ying if she needed a change of clothing.

"I have nothing similar to your attire here, but I would gladly lend you one of my robes, if that is okay with you." he offered. Yue Ying declined almost bitterly, and regretted her words the moment they came from her mouth. The hermit, however, seemed to take no notice and nodded slightly as if to say "very well," and then he rose, offering her his hand. "Shall we take a trip outside?" Thinking that Mother Nature might provoke some conversation of sorts, she agreed and took his hand, which Yue Ying noticed was rough along the sides of his fingers from his many years of writing.

By the time they stepped outside, it was late afternoon. A small breeze was blowing throughout the valley, gently catching Yue Ying's dress as it swept around the front of the house. Having not noticed it the first time she arrived at the house, Yue Ying was cheerfully surprised to find small shrubbery with small pink flowers growing on it. She bent down and propped up one of the flowers to take a closer look. Zhuge Liang stopped in his tracks in front of her and smiled at the ordeal, looking up towards the heavens. The sky was starting to darken and turn a brilliant orange color. The young boy from before suddenly rode by on a horse, slowing down in front of them as the horse whinnied to a stop.

"Exercising the horses, are we?" Zhuge Liang asked and his servant nodded. "I think we shall take them for a ride this evening, what do you think, my lady?" he asked Yue Ying as he looked back at her. Usually, in her town, she could only ride her horse for a certain length before she had to turn back, which wasn't very far at all. Riding a horse across the open valley with millions of acres sounded wonderful, but, quickly, she shook her mind clear of these thoughts. No matter how much she wanted to, she knew that normal, proper girls did not know how to ride horses.

She looked down at her feet. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I have no knowledge of riding horses and I wouldn't want to ruin my dress." she lied. Oh, how she wished she could have just ripped up her expensive silk outfit, let down her hair, and told Zhuge Liang that she would be honored to ride with him, side by side, out in the open plains. She wished that her sleeves weren't wet with tea and wished that she could have pointed out the flaws in the crossbow invention. But she also did not want to let her parents down and ruin her chance at marriage. Zhuge Liang merely nodded again at her confession and sent the boy away with the horse.

He took a few steps forward, looking towards the plains. His persona against evening sun was a powerful image, and Yue Ying was stunned by it, even by his backside. It was if he blended right in with the sky and earth, as if he was destined to be born into greatness. Zhuge Liang was like a phoenix, born with beautiful feathers and waiting for the right moment to shed his wings and take off. He was calming, wise and intelligent, patient and humble. Yue Ying found herself thinking that she wouldn't at all mind if she devoted herself to such a blessed person for the rest of her life. It was somewhat silly, considering they had just met, but something inside of her wanted to submit to him, to support him whenever he needed someone, to be next to him.

She supposed this was falling in love.

Suddenly, Zhuge Liang spoke again. "Lady Yue Ying… I appreciate you coming so far a distance to meet with me."

Yue Ying was snapped out of her thoughts, puzzled. "Master Zhuge Liang--"

Before she could finish, the hermit bowed in front of her. "But I… believe you will find a much more suitable husband other than myself elsewhere. I hope you'll understand."

Yue Ying felt her heart sink to an unreachable depth.

She felt like she was falling. A suffocating amount of disappointment fell over her. She was prepared to hear these words wasn't she? After all, it wasn't as if her marriage was assured, Zhuge Liang was only a possible suitor. She should have been well prepared for rejection, but she never imagined her first rejection would hurt her so much. Biting her lip, she forced herself to focus on the situation at hand. She looked up and managed a sad smile. "I understand." she said, for fear if she said any more words she would be unable to contain her emotions.

"I am truly sorry."

Yue Ying nodded to reassure him. They both stood together in the evening sun in silence for a few moments. Zhuge Liang once again called for his young servant to ready the horses, but Yue Ying insisted that she would be fine on her own with her townsmen. The "Sleeping Dragon" looked towards his guest and then sky, which was becoming darker with every passing minute. He turned to Yue Ying, and instead, insisted that she stay the night because after nightfall there would be numerous bandits roaming the valleys. It was the last thing that she wanted to do right after facing rejection, but she had no choice, for she had to be considerate of her fellow townsmen as well. Bowing, she reluctantly accepted his proposal and the young boy led her to a separate room of the house for her to rest.

She exchanged good nights with her former suitor and then she used excused herself for the night. Yue Ying sat alone on the bed alone for a few moments and then fell upon it and tried to sleep, only to find that the bed was much too cold.

That night, a full moon dominated over the night sky. Yue Ying looked up as some of its rays snuck in from her open window and illuminated the clothing spread out on her bed. She began removing her silk clothing, careful not the damage the cloth, and folded them to the side. She slipped on a regular green men's robe which tied at the waist with a black band. Her hair had long been messed up since she tried to sleep. Removing her ponytail, her hair once again fell freely to her shoulders and she ran a hand through it, trying to remove all the crinkles. There was a bucket of water that the young boy had brought in before hand in case she wanted to wash before bed. Peering in the water, she smiled at the familiar sight of herself.

Along with her clothing, she had brought some ink and paper, just in case. Lighting a candle on the table, she began to write a short letter expressing her thanks and her apologizes for departing so suddenly. She skimmed over the note, satisfied, and left it on the bed with her hair pin on the top of it. She took one last look at the room before leaving out the front door, careful not to wake anyone up. As Yue Ying came upon the sleeping horses, she was relieved to find one still awake. Gently petting its nose to calm the animal, she led it out from the stable. They walked in the moonlight until she was on the main road. Breathing in the cool night air, she turned around to mount the horse.

"It's rather dangerous… to be leaving by yourself so late at night."

Freezing at the sound of the familiar airy voice, Yue Ying couldn't help but laugh to herself at the ironic situation. Somehow, Zhuge Liang knew that she would try to leave, but that was to be expected after all. Instead of trying to cover up, she felt like concealing herself no longer. He had already rejected her after all; there was no harm in letting him see her true face. She turned to face him and sure enough, he was the same man she met this morning, except now dressed in a white robe, which glowed brightly in the moonlight. If he was surprised, Yue Ying didn't know, but she didn't want to stay any longer in front of him. He could criticize her all he wanted to after she was gone.

Giving a slight bow, she turned around again, only to stop again at the sound of the hermit's voice. "Beautiful." he simply said. Somehow unable to leave, she stared at the moon, admiring it as it repelled all darkness around it, strong and calm.

She breathed out slowly, "Yes, the moon is very beautiful tonight." she replied.

Zhuge Liang chuckled softly. "The moon is very beautiful indeed… but compared to you, tonight, it pales in comparison.

Yue Ying felt her heart skip a beat, but she ignored it. "Are you mocking me?" she asked with slight anger in her voice, still refusing to turn around.

"I mean every word I say." he countered. "A butterfly will always be so much more beautiful than its cocoon, after all."

"Unfortunately, the butterfly is not yours to keep." she replied. Zhuge Liang smiled at her cleverness.

"Then… may I ask this butterfly… if she would humbly accept me once again to be her keeper?"

Yue Ying looked towards the ground. "So, you knew I was… pretending? This whole time?" she asked, finally turning around.

"I was trying to assure you it was alright for you to just be yourself… but you seemed reluctant. I didn't want to, but it turns out I had to resort to rejection for you to finally reveal yourself."

At this point, Yue Ying couldn't hold back her tears. She swallowed hard as they fell un-controllably. She didn't even try to brush them away or conceal them; she was done trying to hide. All she did was close her eyes, and allowed her feelings take over. "So you were testing me… all this time…" she stopped for a sob of air. "Why didn't you just make yourself clear from the beginning? Why did you have to do all that? You could have just told me…why did you make me fall in love with you and then…" still able to realize what she was saying, she stopped. Despite her sobbing, Zhuge Liang said nothing and slowly walked towards her, noting to her every word.

"If you would have just plainly told me, I would have been able to tell you everything… that your crossbow invention had flaws within it, that I wasn't comfortable at all in my clothing, that I would have been more than happy to ride the horses with you…" As she finished her thoughts, she felt Zhuge Liang's arms wrap around her shoulders, encircling her in his warmth. Yue Ying cried into his chest, clinging tightly onto his robe.

"You're a horrible man…" she whispered.

"I know… I hope you'll forgive me." Zhuge Liang admitted.

Back inside the house, they had lit a candle and sat next to each other with the invention diagrams spread out across the table. Yue Ying was now back to her old self, pointing out suggestions on how to fix some of the problems with the inside structure. Zhuge Liang seemed like he was only half-listening, however, as he kept on nodding and smiling.

"Are you even listening?" Yue Ying asked frowning.

Smiling, he replied, "I'm just a little distracted by your brilliance that's all, don't mind me."

"So the "Sleeping Dragon" knows how to make jokes. How peculiar."

At this, Zhuge Liang chuckled delightfully. Sighing, Yue Ying leaned backwards and enjoyed the feeling of his arms as they gently settled around her waist, cradling her close to him. As she closed her eyes and took in his scent, the hermit spoke again, this time in a more serious tone. "Yue Ying… I believe that the chaos throughout the land will eventually even reach here. When that time comes… and I am to fulfill my destiny… I pray that you will be by my side."

Yue Ying smiled and gently turned her head towards him. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

Notes: Ehhh, using the butterfly concept kinda reminded me a little too much of Zhang He, but hey, it fit the concept perfectly, so I had to use it. I'm sorry for the girly cliché story plot, I never knew I could be so dang mushy. In fact, this story was getting so long I planned to turn it in a chapter story, but I figured I wouldn't have the time. Ah well. If you want more, review! OWARI.