A/N: I swear. Everytime I get my hands on a DW game. I get the writing bug. This time it's with Empires. Hohoahoa. I can't make any promises of being on time, as I've done it 3 times in the past and I am the crappiest updater ever. I promise to try really hard though. Anyways, once again it's my LTxOC fic, which of course will feature the precious Shu kingdom (as do all my other stories). But yes. Hope people will enjoy this one, and thank you to the people who support me!

Update: May 23,2010: So like, I wonder why no one ever pointed out that I got my whole prologue epilogue thing mixed up until now? I've been looking like an idiot for so long. ANYWAYS, thanks very much for the pointers and I have changed the titles. Once again: Never start new stories in the middle of the night, and always proof read, even though I'm very lazy to. Thanks for the support!

Prologue

The sound of bells chiming brought the children up to their feet and towards the main hall. Today was results day. The day that most children loathed but there were the very few that were excited to see how they have improved in the past year. The kids pushed and shoved, all trying to get to the board where the scrolls were posted. Ling Tong hopped over the fallen students and spun around the tubbier ones, being the first one there as usual. With his hopes held high, he gaped at the rankings from bottom to top, stopping at his own name. "No. Way." He muttered under his breath.

"What are the rankings? Let me see! Let me see!" the rest of the children had caught up and were taking a peek. "Who is number one? Is it you Gong Ji?"

"Of course it's not him." Someone laughed, "It's Xi Won!"

"Xi Won!" Tong muttered under his breath, "Where is that punk?" he shouted.

"Studying in the library again probably."

"Shh! Why'd you say that!" Another boy nudged him in the stomach. They watched Tong storm away, "FIGHT!" someone else shouted and everyone began to follow the angry son of Ling Cao.

Xi Won placed his hand under his chin and stared out into the sky. He had no intention to join the rest of the children, instead he enjoyed the silence he got in the library. With next weeks test study material in his lap, he closed his eyes and tried to listen to the wonderful sounds of nature. There was the sound of birds chirping and that soft, gentle wind that rattled the leaves…followed by a mass mob of footsteps. He opened his eyes and stared towards the hallway where a very angry Tong was approaching. This happened every results day, with the two of them competing. Xi Won had known Tong all his life because they were both the children of very prestigious and respected individuals. So all their life, they had been compared to. From taking their first steps, composing their first poems or gutting an animal. And every results day Tong would come to boast about his marks. Unfortunately for Tong, at their tender age of 10, the importance of scholarship was just as important as battle skills. "There you are!" Tong snarled and picked up Xi Won by the scruff of his collar. "Outside now!"

"I don't see why you're so angry, Gong Ji." Xi Won tried to calm down his rival. At the age of 10, they were complete opposites in size. Xi Won was scrawny, skinny and short while anyone could tell Tong would grow into a very strong warrior.

"You know why." He shouted, and began to drag him outside. Xi Won sighed as the scrolls fell off lap. If only this didn't happen every results day.

"Shen Xi Won!" Xi Won's mother shouted when he came back home, tattered and beaten up. "Did that Ling child do this again?" she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into her room. "Make sure no one comes in!" she instructed her maids, "And get Xing Li." When the orders were given, Mother Shen gave her child a hug. "Oh my daughter. What happened this time?"

"Results day." Xi Won shrugged off her shirt, grimacing in pain after. "I think he dislocated something."

"That boy is just like his father!" Mother Shen cleared the dirt from her face. "I have no clue what your father was thinking. Raising you and fooling the world as a boy. You're obviously a girl." She said, broken hearted. "My beautiful girl."

"Father said it will end soon."

"Your father. Your father has been saying that for 10 years!" She said in disgust, "You are his child! Does he not care!" It was fact that Xi Won had been born a girl, much to the dismay of her father who had prepared all the festivities for a son. This was because, just like herself and Tong, her father and Ling Cao carried on a rivalry that stemmed from their childhood. It was unfortunate for Xi Won that she had to be the first child born and that she had to share the same birthday as Tong. For her Father's foolish pride had kept her hiding from the world for the past ten years.

"I don't care!" Mother Shen shouted, "I'm not letting his happen anymore!" her finger pointed at Father Shen. "You either tell the world she is a girl, or I am!"

"I can't now! It's been ten years!"

"Look at your daughter! She's getting bullied!"

"She wouldn't if she could fight back!"

"She is a girl!"

"There is no gender preference in battle skills."

"You are so pigheaded!"

"Are they fighting again?" Xi Won asked her most trusted maid, Xing Li. Xing Li was an elderly lady, who was present for her birth. There was no one else in the world that knew her and trusted her more than Xing Li.

"It's fine child."

"Is it my fault for not being born a boy?"

"Of course not." Xing Li combed her hair.

"I mean. We do have a boy in the family." She was talking about her little brother, "He will be the one who inherits everything…"

"Oh child."

"I'm sick of getting beat up by Tong." A tear dropped from her eye. "I'm sick of getting beat up cause I can't build muscle or fat or anything." She stared to sniffle, "And what if I start to grow…you know." Her eyes were now brimming with tears. "They'll know and they'll start calling me a freak!"

"Child!" Xing Li stepped back surprised, she had never seen her like this. "Must be the work of being a woman." She laughed.

"I want to run away Xing Li. Run away with me."

"Oh no! Don't you say that." Xing Li hit her on the head softly, "But…your mother and I have been talking but we never dared to ask. But if you're so unhappy…why don't you go stay with my nieces?"

"You're nieces?"

"They're a pair of sisters, beautiful little girls. A little bit older than you, but sweet and gentle. You could go live with them if you want."

"As a boy?"

"No. As a girl." Xing Li ruffled her hair, "They could teach you everything."

The next morning Tong went to school grumbling and mumbling, angry from the lecture he received from both his father and mother. "You go apologize to that child right now!" His mothers words had pierced his ears.

"You must control your anger." His father shook his head and said after. "You will be a great warrior, but with your temper, it will come back to harm you."

"Fine. Fine." He had promised. Now he was walking to school with a bag of sweets, Xi Won's favorite. "Hey." Tong asked one of his classmates who walked by, "Where's Xi Won?"

"Didn't you hear? Xi Won moved away yesterday." The bag of treats fell out of his hand and onto the ground. Guilt was never a nice feeling to have.