Chapter Two: Luminescence

The door slowly creaked open, and it was too late to just stuff Shao Qing underneath the bed…

"There!" A female voice called out. I was suspecting it as my mother…but this voice sounded…different.

"Uh-oh, here comes company." Shao Qing mumbled. Then, suddenly, the figure that opened the door threw a razor-sharp dagger straight towards Shao Qing and me! Luckily, it missed us by a hair, but after that lucky miss, we dashed out of the bed in less than a second. The figure walked up to the bed and pulled out the dagger. The light from the full moon outside let me see a better view of this girl.

She had elbow-length, raven black hair that was as straight as sticks. She wore a long, light blue Chinese fighting gown with purple designs stitched onto it. She also had fishnet knee-length stockings with matching wristbands, and many fancy silver rings on her fingers. She also had a silver necklace in the shape of a lotus flower. And as I got a better look at her face, she had bright blue eyes, perfect bangs across her forehead, and purple eye shadow, with a small, purple lotus flower tattoo right beside her eye. She looked around my age, too. But I was far too afraid to be admiring attractive people.

"Shao Qing! Shao Qing make Bai Hua angry! Shao Qing run away from Bai Hua nineteen times! Shao Qing must now die!" The young woman shouted, throwing three more daggers. I gasped as I ducked down beside my bed as the daggers missed my location. Shao Qing jumped up and dived over the bed, attempting to kick the young girl, who dodged the kick. She rolled around and prepared to throw more lethal daggers at him. I got a glimpse of the battle, afraid of getting hit myself, but then I remembered how my mother was strong in a situation like this long ago, like in the story.

I had to be stronger. Somehow.

I immediately ran up and grabbed one of the daggers that missed Shao Qing and me. And without any hesitation at all, I ran up and attempted to attack the intruder, who spotted me out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed a dagger and we clashed.

"Girl interrupt fight? Girl should NOT interrupt fight!" The girl screamed. With one motion of her hand, she got the dagger out of my hand, where it landed on the other side of my room. She was about to strike me with her dagger—

"No." Shao Qing slapped the girl on the hand, making her drop the dagger. She looked at her hand, then at Shao Qing, a look of confusion on her face, similar to a child's.

"Huh?"

"I said no. Bad Bai Hua." Shao Qing said, slapping her hand again. She looked at her hand and nodded.

"Bai Hua sorry." She mumbled. I stood there, speechless. What was going on? Who was this girl? How did she enter my house? All of those questions weren't about to be answered as Zhou Yin was at the door…mother right behind him.

"Zhou Ying! What's going on in here?" My mother asked frantically, seeing the two unexpected visitors.

"Mother, you must listen to me—,"

"Answer me! What's going on? Who are these two strange people?" My mother asked again, not even bearing to listen to my excuses. I was about to say something before Shao Qing came up and grabbed mother's hand.

"Allow me to introduce myself," He began. "My name is Shao Qing. Wanderer, at your service."

"Quit acting all fancy like that!" I snapped at him.

"Zhou Ying, get these people out. Now." My mother said, removing her hand from Shao Qing's grasp.

"Mommy," Zhou Yin said. "Shao Qing is a friend of ours. We met him today in the gardens. He needs a place to stay, and Zhou Ying said that he could stay here until he leaves."

"Zhou Ying said that?" My mother gave me a 'we-need-to-talk-young-lady' glance.

"I didn't want him stay! He insisted on staying, and because he's such a pest, I had to let it go, mother!" I exclaimed.

"Heeeyyy, I'm no pest. I'm a good guy." Shao Qing grinned. Don't ask me why he was grinning so merrily in a situation like this.

"Shao Qing stay with Moody Girl?" Bai Hua asked me. Great, now I was known as 'Moody Girl' by her. "Wherever Shao Qing stay, Bai Hua stay!"

"I'm afraid that Shao Qing must stay in another place, Miss Bai Hua." My mother said. "And Zhou Ying, I'm very disappointed in you. You need to take responsibility more, especially when you're keeping an eye on your younger brothers."

"Mother, listen—!"

"We'll talk now, Zhou Ying. Zhou Yin, get back to bed. And you two," My mother looked at Shao Qing and Bai Hua. "We'll talk about this whole situation later."

"Yes, ma'am!" Shao Qing saluted.

"Zhou Ying." My mother gestured me to follow her. She left my room, and with a loud sigh, I followed her out.

……………………………

"Letting strangers into the house? Not telling me? How old do you think you are, Zhou Ying? You can't let people in like stray animals!" My mother's lecture of disappointment and discipline began.

"Mother, if you listened to my side of the story, maybe you would show a little bit of understanding—."

"Understanding? About what, Zhou Ying, letting people into the house while I'm gone?" My mother rubbed her temples in fury. "You should know better than that. Honestly, I would let Zhou Xun or Zhou Yin take care of the house while me and your father are gone."

"Well maybe if you actually listened to me for once I would—!"

"That's enough! If you talk that way to your mother again, you will never hold another responsibility in this house again!" My mother yelled.

It was silent. Never in my life did I even think about my mother yelling at me that way. I stood there, shaken and dazed.

"Fine." I finally spoke up. "If that's the way it is, you not listening to what your own daughter has to say, then that must be what you really, really want." I walked out of the room and returned to my bedroom, holding back my tears as best as I could.

I lost my mother's trust just like that. The person I rely on the most can't rely on me.

How am I supposed to live now? What will she do? Who will hold the responsibilities now? Zhou Xun? Zhou Yin?

I entered my bedroom, where Bai Hua and Shao Qing were waiting patiently.

"I forgot to mention earlier, Zhou Ying. This is Bai Hua. You see, while wandering a few months ago, I befriended her father, and after saving their village, his reward for me was his daughter to marry. I stated that Wanderer's cannot marry, so Bai Hua was heartbroken, but she's unrelenting to winning my heart, so she follows my tracks to find me and bring me back to her village." Shao Qing said. I wasn't listening much, of course.

"Moody girl not happy? Bai Hua unhappy, too." Bai Hua sulked as she saw my emotion of melancholy on my face. I sat beside Bai Hua and hid my face in my arms. I wasn't crying, I just felt like nothingness.

Nothingness. Whatever that feeling is, it must feel horrific.

I then had a deliberation. What if this was a sign? A sign to get out of the house and become stronger…to find my true strength? What if I had to find my own way to bring back responsibility…the hard way? The courageous way?

I sat up, walked over to Shao Qing, and stared at him right in the eyes.

"When do you leave?" I asked him. I was expecting him to act just like he did when I first met him, but my stare was a sign to him that I had full seriousness about this. He stared at me for a few seconds before replying.

"Soon. You mother isn't so welcoming to my stay." He gave an apologetic grin towards me.

"Then I shall accompany you." I said, looking at Bai Hua. "She can join us."

"Wait," Shao Qing sat up. "Why are you coming with me? And why is she coming with us, too?"

I almost had the urge to giggle to see Shao Qing this flustered.

"Because if my mother can't trust me, then I'd rather be on my own…maybe as a Wanderer." I stated, grabbing my clothes to change into. I got behind my screen and took off my nightgown.

"And Bai Hua is coming with us because?"

"Because you and her need some quality time together. She needs to be around with you because she loves you." I said, peeking my head out from behind the screen.

"B-but!" Shao Qing stuttered, but he was interrupted when Bai Hua clung onto his arm, looking up at him with dreamy eyes.

"Bai Hua and Shao Qing finally have time to spend together! Bai Hua so full of joy!"

"Perfect." Shao Qing mumbled in misery. He kind of deserved it for running away from the poor girl nineteen times.

I got on my regular outfit and tied my hair into my pigtails.

"We ready to leave yet?" I asked him.

"Wait." Shao Qing grabbed my shoulder. "Look."

I looked at my doorway and saw Zhou Yin and Zhou Xun standing there. This time mother was not behind them, which relieved me greatly.

"What are you two doing up past your bedtime?" I asked my younger brothers.

"Are you leaving us Zhou Ying?" Yin asked me, tears coming into his eyes. I bit my lip.

"No, I would never leave you guys," I said. "I'm taking you two with me."

"What?" Shao Qing asked me.

"What?" Zhou Xun also asked me.

"I can't just abandon my brothers. How are they going to take care of themselves while I'm gone?" I told Shao Qing. I turned back to my brothers.

"But, what about mother?" Zhou Xun asked.

"What mother needs is a lesson. This is for her own good, you two." I stood up and grabbed Zhou Yin's hand. "It's your decision, though. So, are you coming?"

Xun and Yin exchanged over a dozen or so looks.

"I've always wanted to be strong just like daddy…" Yin finally spoke up. "This is the once in a lifetime chance that it's gonna happen." Zhou Yin looked into my eyes.

"So?" I questioned him.

"I'm coming with you, Zhou Ying." He smiled courageously, just like his father.

"That's great! Just get out of that nightgown of yours." I stated. He nodded his head and rushed to his room to get his regular clothes on. Zhou Xun gave me another serious stare.

"Me too." He said. "I'm coming too! You're my sister, Zhou Ying, I'd never leave you behind!" I smiled at this. Someone tough and independent like Zhou Xun saying this made my heart feel so proud.

"All right. Then it is settled." I turned to Shao Qing and Bai Hua.

"Shao Qing, Moody Girl, Little Boys, and Bai Hua wander together! Bai Hua so full of more joy!" Bai Hua exclaimed happily. I grinned along with her.

"Same here. We all want to be stronger, don't we?" I questioned everyone. We all nodded. Shao Qing walked towards my window, opened it, and was ready to leap out.

"I want to find Shao Lin." He said.

"Your sister, right?" I asked him. He nodded his head yes.

"Shao Lin will be found with Bai Hua's help!" Bai Hua grinned widely and leapt out of the window gracefully. Zhou Xun followed behind her and she helped him out of the window. Zhou Yin followed shortly after. I double-checked that mother didn't hear anything and that she was still in bed, and once the coast was clear, I went to the window. Shao Qing held out his hand.

"Let's go, Zhou Ying." He smiled. I smiled back.

"Yes." And with Shao Qing's help, I leapt out of the window.

To be continued in chapter three!

Panda Flash!

Hey everyone! This is finally updated! WOO!

Yes. I messed up on Shao Qing's sister's name last chapter. It's Shao Lin, not Lin Qing. Duh. Stupid me.

So the team is the leader-like Zhou Ying, the laid-back Shao Qing, the third-person addressing Bai Hua, the brave Zhou Xun, and the confident Zhou Yin! WOOHOO!

Please keep reading! Enjoy! Review!

-da Panda