A/N: Hello all, again. This one has been sitting on my computer for a while, and upon reading another *wonderful* DW fanfic, Slow Time, I finally decided to at least upload the prologue. Hopefully it'll motivate me to write more again~! I really like the last few things I wrote, so I hope I can keep it up --;

Somenotes-if you read other OC fanfics for DW, then they also probably have to do with women being oppressed, etc. but that's how it actually was back then-so kill me for using the idea again. (plus, I like it anyway) and you'll notice the name Tao Rei...that doesnt sound familiar at ALL to Taruna Rei XD; Again, I apologize, but I really do like writing all my stories with only two OC names.

Please enjoy the prologue and tell me what you think so far~!

"Die!" The little boy thrust his small stick. In return, the girl laughed and darted to the side. Both of them feinted and stabbed their makeshift swords, and giggled in the heated afternoon. The sun was high in the sky, and the air just as dry as the sand beneath their feet. Eventually, one of them finally gave out and dropped under a shaded tree. The other quickly joined.

"Hey, do you think we'll ever become real soldiers?" the girl asked after a few minutes of catching their breaths. The boy cocked his head, still staring at the clear sky,

"Well, of course. What else are we training for?" The girl thought about it for a moment,

"Then, let's make a promise."

"Huh? What?"

"When we get into the army, let's stick together and-,"

"Where are you?! You know you have chores to do!" The girl was interrupted,

"Oh, my mom's calling me," she jumped up, then turned her head to look the boy in the face, "but promise, ok?" The other child sat up,

"Promise," he smiled.

The girl smiled back before running to her mother.

Tao Rei lifted her hand over her face. She squinted her eyes against the slits of light shining through her fingers. That day was just as sunny as it was today, years later when she could comprehend what real fighting was. Especially the fact that only the best of the best female warriors were even allowed onto the battlefield. Sighing loudly, Tao Rei lifted herself from the cold stone road and began to walk among the crowded market street.

She couldn't even recall the boy's name or face anymore. The woman could only recall how close she felt to him. Sighing again, Rei settled her gaze on a stall with various weapons on display. She stopped to finger the tip of a spear when the shop owner noticed her. Striding over, a curious look on his face, asked,

"Shopping for your husband, ma'am?" Tao Rei looked up and strongly shook her head,

"Oh, no. I was merely curious."

"Hahaha," the round man let out a hearty laugh, "Women needn't be concerned with such things. You should be picking up vegetables, am I right?"

"No…"

"Ah, then treating yourself to new clothes maybe? Trying to get yourself hitched to a wealthy landowner?"

"I'm sorry, I must be leaving," She rushed away before anything else could follow her statement. Darting through the people, Tao Rei escaped the sight of the confused shop owner, and rested in a cool back alley. Regaining her strength and composure, she looked to the sky. This was why she had to join the war.

She had to be a soldier not only because of that fond memory, but because of the sexist remarks. The boring and loathsome house life. The undermining of her intelligence. The being of use only in one's beauty-and if one could bare a healthy child. How was a woman to have pride in a world like this?

Tao Rei regained herself and slowly started walking back to the marketplace for armor and a horse. For if she was to have pride, she'd find it on the battlefield.

The blood curdling screams riding on the wind, the adrenaline pumping through his veins-this was what made Gan Ning feel alive. His blade drove into the unfortunate man on his right, and the other dagger cutting three in one blow on his left. The familiar chaos and heightened senses was home to him. This was what he knew.

So he continued being good at what he knew late into the afternoon. Invaders were running in from some force unknown to him and attacking his master, Huang Zu. Not that he had particular loyalty to Huang Zu, it's just where his want for battle led him.

Gan Ning's enjoyment was cut short when he realized that the enemy had retreated, many of them screaming about the sound of bells. The battleground was masked with bodies and limp spears, the darkening sky painting hues of yellows and reds across them. As quickly as the battle had started, it ended in a strange kind of calm. Flicking blood off his daggers, one of Huang Zu's many wives approached Gan Ning without fear.

"Was there something you wanted?" the ex-pirate growled. He had expected to at least brawl for another hundred or so men.

"You are quite the admirable warrior, Master Xingba. There is no doubt that you are gifted in combat. For a man such as you, even this one sided fight must be leaving you unsatisfied."

"Ha," Gan Ning laughed, "It's not that the other guys were too weak, it's just I was too strong!"

"So you are upset despite our victory," the woman stated. The other merely glared at her. She slowly walked closer to him. "Let me presume that, other than when you're on the battle field, you feel…bored; maybe so far as to say empty-." She slightly gasped at the abrupt sharp, stained blade at her throat.

"Don't ever presume something like that about me," Gan Ning said in clenched teeth. The opposed woman wanted to rebuttal, to push this dumb warrior into a state of complete annoyance, but was only able to train her eyes on the intensity of the other's. While she noticed the reappearance and disappearance of the smog formed by her breath on the pointed steel under her chin, it occurred to the lady that she chose the wrong man to play mind games with. The tough fighter finally withdrew his weapon and started to walk back towards the castle when he let out a venomous warning, "Next time we talk will be your last." The frightened girl only managed to stare at the retreating figure.

Gan Ning felt right when he was fighting. He felt like fighting was his purpose. Fighting was the one thing he knew all about. So now that he had to head back to his 'master' and wait until the next foolish leader came knocking on their door, he was feeling peeved.

He didn't need anyone to tell him about the emptiness he felt when leaving the battlefield, especially not some woman.

R&R~! cause if Im doin somethin wrong, Id love to know~ |D