"This is going to be a very long trip. Are you all prepared?" asked Liu out of his concern. He'd known Sieg since childhood; he knew he is reckless, and that his recklessness would produce nothing but trouble, so he had to make sure that he was ready in and out.

"Don't worry! I'm all packed and ready to go!" Sieg spread his usual grin.

"Well, if you say so—"

"Speak for yourself!" Roberto snapped. Liu and Sieg turned to him with a hint of surprise painted on both of their face. "We're low on medicine and antitoxin! My armor is in a bad shape and yours as well! We've gotta buy new armors and also weapons! God, I can't believe a careless boy like you takes lead of this company."

"Sheesh, stop yappin', will ya? Ya worry to much." pouted Sieg. "Here. Ya see this bag? I've put everything in here! Medicines, food, drinks—"

Roberto raised one of his eyebrows; arms crossed above his chest, right foot tapping impatiently. "Yeah?"

Sieg reached in the bag madly. He lifted the bag upside down to trot out everything inside it, but none of things he mentioned came out; only dust and other tiny specs. "I SWEAR I PUT EVERYTHING IN THE BAG LAST NIGHT!" he yelled.

"And you call yourself the leader of this company." Roberto rolled his eyeballs.

"I don't, Ribbit!"

"Stop calling me that! My name is ROBERTO!"

Liu held his laugh out. It was always like that whenever the two of them were together. It was amusing though, seeing them argue like kids. "Have you really put the supplies in your bag? Perhaps you put them in your dream last night, literally, and after you woke up, you felt like you've put them for real."

"I HAVE put them in FOR REAL! You've gotta believe me! Someone must've messed up with my bag the time I was sleepin'!" Sieg clenched both of his fists. He was ready to give a good, hard punch to anyone who dared enough to mess with his belongings. "I'm gonna go find him! I'll be back in a minute! Come on, Roger!"

"Why you—" Roberto opened his mouth to yell at him again, but Sieg already rushed out from the Grand Hall with such inhuman speed. Roberto decided to run after him, and Liu swear that he heard Roberto muttered out some curse to Sieg for insulting his name the second time this morning.

Finally, the Grand Hall was quiet again. Liu let out a long sigh and went to his desk. He gathered all scraps of paper that scattered on the desk and put them into one pile of papers. Now that he became the strategist of the company, he spent his time most of the time there to plan a strategy for upcoming battles. He would often take a slight nap there, only to find Marica hit his head and told him to go sleep in his room. He just nodded though, and in the end he'd drop his head again on the desk and snore. Marica would then splash him a bucket of water, and if he still didn't move at all, she would drag him all over to his room. Whenever he remembered it, he always chuckled.

"Liu-Shen—"

"WHOA!" Liu jumped at the sudden voice that came from his back. "Oh, it's you, Len-Lien… I thought it was a ghost…"

Len-Lien gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!"

"O-oh, that's fine." Liu rubbed his chest to calm his heart down. The pounds his heart were producing weren't the result of the surprise but something else—the presence of Len-Lien, the girl who had been his childhood friend and apparently, his crush. "What brings you here? Err, I mean—do you need something?"

"I brought some tea and cookies." She showed up the tray she held with both of her hands. Just then Liu noticed the tray since he was looking at Len-Lien's face the entire time. A tea pot decorated with delicate flower paintings and a tea cup with the same pattern stood firmly on the tray, along with a plate of chocolate cookies next to them. The mixed scent of jasmine and chocolate that touched Liu's sense of smell brought out such calm feeling.

"I was actually on my way to your room. Then I saw you here, so I thought to bring the tea here and give it to you right away." She put the tray down on the desk.

"T-that's real nice of you. Thanks a lot!"

"My pleasure." Len-Lien smiled gently.

Liu's heart skipped a beat when he saw her beautiful smile, and suddenly a weird warm sensation came out on his cheeks. Liu uncomfortably turned around to sip the tea and munch the cookie which was given to him to hide his nervousness. It was delicious. He started to wonder when Len-Lien started to become such a talented baker.

"I'm glad you came back like you did." said Len-Lien softly, almost sounded like a whisper.

Liu turned his head. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You came back to the village. I didn't even believe my own eyes when I first saw you back there—I didn't expect you to come home so early… But you were there." Len-Lien fixed her gaze into Liu's green eyes. From her eyes he could see such genuine feeling of gratitude and relieve.

"But it was… unintentional…" Liu shrugged. He couldn't say 'it was an accident' in front of her, now could he? Well, to be honest he never did want to go back to his tribe—he didn't want to get trapped in there and go mad without knowing about what's happening out of his little, isolated village. But saying that his arrival there was an accident wasn't the right thing to do because it would sound like he regretted his meeting with her and the fact that he was chosen as the Elder of the Scribes.

"It didn't matter." Len-Lien shook her head. "Since the day you left, I've been very lonely. I… I missed you and always wondered when you will come home. The days I spent felt different without you."

Liu kept silent. Now he kind of regretted his decision to leave the tribe—to leave her all alone like that. To upset a girl was the last thing he would have ever done, and he had done it.

"I'm sorry…" Apologetic words escaped from his mouth. It was the only words he could say to her right now.

"Don't worry. It was my own choice not to accept your offer to leave that day." She smiled again. "I'm just glad now that I can be by your side again."

He stared at her and opened his mouth to say his gratitude, but none came out. He unconsciously moved his hands towards hers and grabbed them. Liu's heart beat faster as he tightened his grip—he didn't know what came over him. He felt cold sweat ran over his hands and body and swallowed the lump in his throat. Then, he closed his eyes and leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers. Her peach lips tasted of something sweet, and the scent of her body reminded him of fresh scent of the forest. He let himself sink in the sensation, and then parted as he came back to his sense.

Len-Lien froze in awe. Her face was as red as ripe tomato. "Liu-Shen, what did you—?"

As Liu realized the act he had done, his face heated and turned as red as Len's face. His green eyes goggled, and his body went numb. 'What in the world did you do!?'

"LIU, WE'RE BACK!"

Sieg entered the room joyfully while Roberto followed him behind with annoyed expression. As they approached him, Liu quickly released his grasp.

"O-oh, that was fast!" said Liu. He tried to act casually as if nothing has happened, but to no avail. The gestures he made just made him even looked more suspicious. Len-Lien stood next to him with both hands covered her tiny lips. Their bright red faces were very noticeable.

"This moron turned out to pick the wrong bag." Roberto grunted. "Thank God Marica was there to stop him before he caused any havoc!"

"That's so typical of you, Sieg." commented Liu. The boy only grinned.

"Sorry to cause y'all problem! That won't happen again." Sieg apologized. "Alright, we're ready to le—Wait a minute… Liu, your face's all red. Are ya okay?"

Liu gulped. "W-what do you mean, Sieg? Of course we're okay!" he answered nervously.

Sieg wondered the word 'we' until he noticed the blushing Scribe girl stood beside the strategist. "Ooh, Len-Lien. I didn't see ya right there!"

Roberto sensed something wrong and came forward to examine them. "Excuse me, but both of you don't look good at all. Should I call Zahra?" he suggested.

"That's not necessary!" Liu quickly rejected the suggestion. The very image of Zahra examining his body brought chills down his spine. "We're fine! Super fine! Right, Len-Lien?"

"Y-yes." The girl nodded, not having any idea to add anymore words beside what she had already spoken. After a slight awkward silence, she finally thought of leaving the room. "P-pardon me, but I have to take my leave right now. P-please don't hesitate to ask for any help."

"Right. I'll see you around…"

Len-Lien gave a faint smile to Liu and walked passed Sieg and Roberto. The reddish face she tried to conceal couldn't reduce the curiosity the two boys had. The naive leader and the blade warrior then exchanged glances of confuse and worry.

"You sure you're okay?" asked Sieg once more.

"I'm okay, really." Liu said so, but the expression on his face didn't. It was still as red as before, and the cold sweat didn't stop pouring out. "Don't mind me anymore, okay? Let's just back to our topic. Now, where were we?"

Roberto once again exchanged glances with Sieg. "I think we really should bring him to Zahra." he whispered.

Sieg nodded agree. "Definitely."

Oh, if only they knew what really happened…

Author's note:

Phew! I finally wrote a fanfic in English XDDD

This is my first fanfic in English, and English isn't my mother language, you see, so you might find some strange or unapropriate (?) words here and there...

I'll be waiting for your critics and/or suggestions! ^^ (don't be shy cause I won't bite!)

Thank you and hope you enjoy the story!