Wow I already got two reviewers who like the ship! Whoop whoop! Oh god you can't believe how happy I am to hear this. I'll address all present and future reviewers as a whole group but I'm happy to have support. All I will say for those curious that yes, Guan Ping IS alive in this AU as are the other Guan siblings (who might or might not cameo) and yes, there will be a bit of an unrequited Guan Ping x Xingcai tease.

And if it's not obvious already, Liu Shan is THE character for me. Something about him just clicks with me. A mini-spoiler here that you should keep in mind is that my Liu Shan is...'darker'. It'll make sense in the future I promise but for now, let me just gaze at that FREAKING ARTWORK FOR HIM IN THE EIKETSUDEN ARTBOOK HELLLOOOOOOO BENCHMARK!

Um...ahem. As for the story, well it will hit some rather dark topics. Let's just say this ain't just a romance story and I'm gonna be pushing the rating system a bit so...yeah. This story ain't gonna be all fun and games.

With that all said, let's get this show on the road! As always, I ain't KOEI (but if I was I'd DEFINITELY make a cool final battle with Sima Zhao and Liu Shan because those two need a legit final boss battle like one-on-one duel styles)

Chapter 2: A difficult beginning

As the morning sun rose and the birds began their sweet song, small rays of light filtered into the bedchambers of the emperor, giving the room a heavenly glow. The rays passed through the curtains surrounding the wide bed, in its centre the sleeping form of the emperor. A small beam reached his eyes and slowly his eyes opened. He slowly rose, half dazed, and went towards the window, opening the curtains slightly.

Before him was a golden sunrise, framed by a luscious garden and the red rooftiles atop the palace. The wind was crisp but light, hugging his naked body softly. In its golden light, the plants seemed to take an ephereal, magical quality; the palace so beautiful, enchanting. His hand trailed the curtain as he took in this glimpse of the world.

And slamed the curtains shut, his room covered in darkness once more.

He groaned at his early morning wake up, his hands rubbing the weird yellow substance in his eyes. He absolutely hated it when his body decided to wake him up earlier than needed but his desire to return to sleep was futile. He decided, against his better judgment he thought, that he might as well properly wake up and begins his daily morning regime. He walks to the mirror and he picks up a brush and attempts to get rid of the knots in his hair. He notes his dark circles in the dim light and he frowns.

With each stroke, he thinks. And whenever he thinks, he thinks in particular of yesterday. And with the topic of yesterday, his thoughts drift to Xingcai. Her reactions were written in a scroll in his mind, the territory mapped out and stamped on the bamboo paper that is his memory. He remembers that look of indecision, the agony of a fate as a spouse awaiting her. The way her lips purse in thought, crimson and plump. Tongue tracing crimson, making lips moist. But then he shakes his head quickly.

"Tch. I would've thought these thoughts would go away by now." He sets down the brush and takes one final look at himself before standing. He turned to the curtains but he doesn't want to face the light yet. He wants to stay in the darkness for a bit longer.

A thought occurs to him about the presence of his staff. From behind the doorway, he arched his head waiting to hear the sounds of the maids and servants scrambling to prepare his breakfast or his clothing but he heard nothing. Carefully, noting his bedroom wardrobe—or lack of one considering his preference to sleep disrobed—he peeked out into the main foyer once more. Like before, no one was there. Nothing had changed in the span of two and a half seconds.

"Guess I woke up earlier than I thought." He mumbled as he decides that the best course of action to try and attempt to get himself dressed by himself—something he was sure his servants would find sacrilegious and impossible. If only they knew there were SOME things he was capable of doing by himself, he thought with a sardonic smile.

He opens the wardrobe and after a quick browse, he takes out two robes. On the choice of wearing the formal robe or casual, he opted for the casual. Not that he thought there was much of a difference as they were both equally difficult to get into and excessively elaborate. In fact, he didn't see what was so different about the two. They were both green, albeit in different shades. Both had the hint of red that he wore, to serve as a reminder of his mother and his status as a son of both Shu and Wu. Stitched onto both were symbols of clouds and dragons, a symbol of royalty and power in these lands. The only thing that was even remotely different about the two was that the casual robe did not have the gold trim that the other had. It was in this process of dressing himself that his mind inevitably went to his dilemma. He, the foolish emperor, the man who needed five tutors to try and explain politics to him, the man who couldn't wield a sword properly if his life depends on it, had to teach Xingcai of all people. The thought made him let out a rare grimace.

All of last night he was questioning the actions of yesterday. Why did he suggest this? Why did she AGREE to this? How in the world was he going to teach her? The first two questions were impossible to answer so that left him scrambling on the third: a plan to teach Xingcai.

The top half of his outfit complete, he tied his hair up, carefully placing the mianguan on his head.

And oh it would be difficult. Not because she was dumb—no, she was smart! Maybe not in a scholarly way like Zhuge Liang but she certainly had a pragmatism to her that was beyond extraordinary. And he was sure he could pull something out of his tutelage that could help him in tutoring her (that would be the first time his tutoring would actually benefit him, he added as an aside). As for the subject of romance, well!

…well actually, he probably wasn't the greatest person to ask on that subject. He had the theory and he sure had practiced before. Heavens KNOW he had practiced. And failed. Many many times. But even a fool like him, he thought, would be able to convert that knowledge for the opposite sex. And yet that was not what was going to make things difficult for him.

His fear was that with her way of thinking, it would be difficult to teach her in a normal way. His mind recalled the time that he had to explain to Xingcai why the wearing of such a short skirt in public would guarantee the unwanted stares of men and how she looked at him as if he was the insane one. And in her rare bout of stubbornness she continued her habit of wearing the freeing garment as part of her every day ensemble. How he saw the other men stare more and more. How he had caught himself staring more times than would be appropriate.

He waved the thought away as he pulled his pants up, beginning the task of tying up the various belts around his waist. He found himself fortunate, turning an eye downwards, that his body didn't seem to register the sensual thought. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to him and he had doubts that this would be the last.

No, he had to be careful about teaching her, he told himself mentally over and over again. Unless he put it precisely, succinctly, she won't understand. And 'precise and succinct' was never his tutor's way. How on earth could he do it?

"Maybe I am overthinking this." He tugged the sash around him, finally completing the outfit. "Xingcai is smart. I'm sure she will be able to understand this." Doubts filled his mind but he just nervously laughed them away. "I suppose I am being irrational. She should be able to understand what I'm saying."

Later…

"I don't understand what you are saying, my lord."

"It's not that difficult. See, there are different types of men—"

"I understand that. But I do not see what it has to do with rooms." She let out a soft groan of annoyance. By this point, Liu Shan was tempted to groan himself but he kept the smile on his face.

His fears, however irrational they were, came true as he had made his first attempt at teaching her. He thought to start simple for this first lesson: figure out what kind of guy Xingcai likes so he can tell her the ways she might be able to charm such a person for future lessons (and he had to admit he was rather curious about her preference…from a completely unbiased perspective of course). But as he expected, the direct approach only left Xingcai flustered and confused and using the analogy that he was taught to remember about courting—that the perfect partner is someone who can be helpful and presentable no matter what room in the home—only left her annoyed and bewildered.

"Let me…try and find something to help you…visualize." He stood up, turning to find some props to use.

The storage room was just like it was yesterday. Full of dust-covered junk. With the exception of the table and cushions they sit on, the rest of the items in this room he thinks must have only had sentimental value to whoever their previous owners were. But perhaps he could find something to use in this. He found four identical table ornaments, each of a different colour, and set them on the table. The only reason for choosing this was that they were one of the few things that weren't covered in a thick layer of dust.

"OK. So let's try this again." He could feel the smile on his face today starting to wear thin. "Think of these four things here as rooms in your house." She nodded. "So red here is your kitchen. Blue is your living room. Green is your garden and purple the bedroom." She nodded again, though her eyes are still glazed with a tinge of uncertainty.

"These rooms of the house also represent the kind of men you might encounter. Now, the kitchen here," he lifted the red ornament. "represents a fiery type of ma—"

"What about the bathroom?"

Not this again. "Xingcai, I already explained. For the purpose of the analogy, we don't have a —"

She interrupted, "Then where are they going to wash?"

"I don't know they wash in the bathhouse?" A hand went up to his hair as he looked down at the pieces. If he had disbelieved the compliments of his supposed intellect before then he was more inclined to receive it now after witnessing Xingcai trying to process this. He was pretty sure even an idiot like him would understand something like this. His thoughts went to his earlier attempts and he couldn't help but wonder how BAD of a teacher he is.

She stood up with a loud and irritated sigh. "I'm sorry, Lord Liu Shan, but I don't think this is working at all."

His head violently turned back to her, eyes widened. "Wait! Hold on, there must be another way!"

A harsh sigh escaped her lips, softer than the first. A slight shake in her head as she cautiously sat back down. "I need to go soon so please, find another way to explain this." One of her hands idly went to play with the ornaments.

Liu Shan's eyes widened. No. No, he didn't want her to leave. There was no way it could end well without his intervention. The darker, more sarcastic side of his mind started to question whether his intentions on offering these lessons were far more greedy than he had made it sound but the innocent side of him insisted that he was being benevolent and kind in his sacrifice. The dark side of his mind couldn't help but comment about what kind of sacrifice he was making here. The conscious part of him shooed both away, Yin and Yang metaphorically fluttering off back into the recesses of his mind. He needed to focus. He needed to find a solution. His mind went back to a piece of advice his mentors had taught him.

Know your enemy, and you will know the way to stop your enemy. Something along those lines. Liu Shan decided around then that the best way of tackling the enemy was reviewing what he knew about Xingcai.

Sadly, it was not that much. She did not offer much about herself nor her life. In fact, the majority of what he knows was from overhearing conversations between their respective fathers. Whenever one father mentioned their children, the two other sworn brothers could not help but mention their own. It was always the hint of his name being spoken that aroused his curiosity. He suddenly regretted not paying much attention to the other two men and what they were talking about. A pity he wouldn't have a future conversation between sworn brothers to help him in this crisis.

What he did know however was that she always wanted to be a protector. Always. A soldier, strong and true. More than that, she was driven by her duty to king and country, which meant that her trust with him was paramount, absolute (even if it might be wavering ever so slightly from his teaching methods right now). It was probably duty that was driving her to marry and duty that had fueled her the confidence to ask him for help. He knew she was shy and introverted in nature. In that sense she was an open book, albeit a book that was encoded in so many codes only few could read. He felt the smallest fragment of pride for being one of the people who could read her so well, the code to Xingcai easy to decipher.

From what he was told, she had very little formal training herself with the exception of the martial arts—which is already a luxury for a female—but he would catch her every so often trying to brush up (quite literally) on her calligraphy. Drawing the symbols from scrolls. Trying to figure out their meaning. But he remembered she quickly got annoyed and left after he walked in on her. He remembered briefly the scroll she had copied from, a rather recent one about war tactics.

Wait…war tactics?

And suddenly, the pieces were there. The picture was complete. His eyes widened and before he could stop himself, a grin came onto his face. He suddenly stood up, fished through a particular mound of junk filled to the brim with scrolls. Xingcai could only look with curiosity at his strange movements. His movements quick, hurried, Liu Shan flung through them until he let out an "ah ha!" as he found what he desired. The scroll landed on the table with a flop.

Xingcai peered curiously at the scroll. It was a rather recent if outdated map, no more than a few years old, defining the boundaries between Shu, Wu, Wei, and the then-newly formed Jin. She looked back up to Liu Shan.

"What…is this…?"

"Why, don't you see, Xingcai?" He sat down, grin still in place. "This is your lesson."

Not satisfied with the answer, Xingcai peered once again at the map. It didn't make sense how this had anything to do with romance or courtship. Even when he put the ornaments onto the different regions, it did not make sense to her.

"Explain," she said, harsher than she meant to.

"Well, I know you are more familiar with war. And you've accompanied me when I have ambassadors from the other kingdoms here. Wouldn't you say you notice a similarity between them?"

"I…suppose," She said. "I always found the Wei ambassadors quite cold and rather…clinical. And many of the Wu ambassadors seemed to get rather heated in debate."

"That, my dear Xingcai, is exactly the point." He raised the purple ornament, the one that was previous on Wei. "In this day and age, there are all sorts of people. But in this era divided into three—well, technically four—you need to find yourself a kingdom to align yourself to. Lest you get washed up in the waves of war. I personally find that a certain type of personality will align themselves to a certain kingdom. Forgive me if I am premature here but I suspect you have recognised it yourself?"

She nodded. It was making a bit more sense.

"To conquer kingdoms is the same as conquering hearts. You have to know the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy, choose your battles, try and conquer territory. And ultimately, you achieve victory—and peace."

She spluttered, "You're not suggesting that romance is anything like war, are you?"

"That is EXACTLY what I am suggesting."

Slowly he could see the gears in her head working, the slight surprise on her countenance as the solution was revealing itself, one step at a time, before her very eyes. He finally had her.

"Picture it this way, Xingcai. You are a vagabond. Out to conquer a kingdom. Or, well, in this case you're single and you're trying to find a match." He chuckled slightly. "But you only have enough resources and enough men to fight one kingdom. You have to choose your battles. And in order to get any territory, you have to choose who's land you want. Thus, you have to choose a kingdom. "

"Pick…a kingdom?"

"Yes," He smiles. "For you see every land has its own perks and problems. Mountains and valleys, rivers and sea, tropical forest and cold tundra. And that's not even taking into account the main fortress. All of this you have to know, understand, and combat these traits."

"Oh! So basically what you're saying is that you want me to…tell you…what I prefer in a man?" She gave a small, shy blush.

His smile softens. "You do not need to tell me if you do not want to." He replied. "But you need to keep this in mind. Just like in battle, you have an objective. You must always have in mind what you want and what you need to do to accomplish it."

"I…I see." It was a long pause before she added, "I…wish I could say I had an idea but…I don't think I do." Her eyes turned downward. Her gaze was once again on the four ornaments. Gently, she picked up the green one that was designated for Shu. In her hands it seemed to have a life of its own, a character, a force that she could not explain.

In the silence, he noted the hidden expressions in her features. Her eyes were half-lidded in thought, her lips puckered slightly. Her fingers idly caressed the ornament, twirling it around her palm.

The idea that she did not know what she wanted, it was one he was acutely aware of but he had no clue until now of the extent of its depths. The fact that she asked for his help, the fact that she is confused and lost in territory unknown, it was clear that she was not a woman of romance. Her belief is to her duty. Her duty is to her country, her family. To him. Soon, she will have to learn about the new duty that awaits her and that is her duty to her betrothed.

He could feel the small flow of jealousy flow through his veins and kiss his cheeks but he banished it from his mind. Xingcai was his bodyguard, his friend. That's all it ever was. And that's all it ever will be.

"What…how…will I figure out what my 'objective' is, my lord?" She sets the ornament down. Her eyes are still glued to it.

"It's something you have to discover yourself," he sighs. "It's natural that you will not know. So many people do not know what they desire, whether it be in romantic interest, career, or in life. You've never really delved so much into the land of courtship until now, have you? It is natural that you would have little clue on what you seek."

"Then how can I find out?" She asks in a panic. "I don't have much time to try and sort out my preferences. How can I find it out quickly?"

A solution popped into his mind but it was not one that he would ever want to utilize. Not with Xingcai. Instead, he lies and says, "There is no true way of figuring it out, I'm afraid." He chuckles, "We're fickle creatures, us human beings. It all depends on you and the pace at which you find out. It might take you a day, weeks. Maybe even months or years. All you need is patience."

She crosses her arms at him. "But I don't have patience, my lord. I don't have the time. There must be another way."

"If there is," he admits. "It's not something I am able to provide to you."

Another moment of silence, and once again his head is filled with thoughts. Of unpleasant futures and what-ifs. Of the possibility that all this is for naught, that whatever he can tell Xingcai about courtship will amount to nothing and Xingcai falls into the bottomless pit that is an unhappy marriage. She's not like other girls, he thinks. She won't be happy with the affections of just any man.

He turns his head to the dark orange sun and its brilliant rays. A golden delight to all so fortunate to see it but to him now, it is a sign that it's gotten late. Later than he thought it was. Not desiring to stay any longer, he rises from his seated position and instinctively, Xingcai follows suit.

"I believe that's as much as I can teach you for today." He smiles a sincere if tired smile.

"…it's rather short is it not, Lord Liu Shan?" She said more as a statement than a question. He glances at the shadows of the sun and deduces that no more than a half hour must've passed.

His smile widened slightly. "Well this is only your introductory lesson. Tomorrow will be longer, as will all future lessons. No, tomorrow shall be the proper lesson." He placed his hands behind his back and leaned in, his smile going sly. "I won't be holding back from now on. I just hope it won't tire you out too much."

Xingcai laughed quietly. "I suppose I will have to look forward to that." She turned to the doorway but stops, places her hand on the frame, and turns back. "Same time tomorrow, am I correct?" He nods, and soon she is gone, a fleeting look of her back becoming a fleeting image that will only exist in the recesses of his mind.

When she is sure she is gone, he sighs. He throws his head back and closes his eyes and releases the pent-up air he did not even realize he was holding in. He glances once again to the sunset rays beating on his sudden and he is overwhelmed with a desire to lie down and watch the world around him go around in its own tentative peace. The grass in his fingertips, the bark of a tree at his back, silently supporting his wiry frame. He hears the gentle chirp of an unidentified bird and the call to nature intensifies. He thinks for just a scond that maybe it will be find to…skip the meeting. Have a break, a rest. Contemplate life for a bit.

But instead he turns his attention to the various things strewn around the room and begins the process of cleaning up. By the time he is done, the room is in as clean a state as he could make it but in cost, it took away the remaining minutes of sunlight away from him. Deciding that he wasn't all that hungry, he retreated to the sanctity that is his palatial suite and delved into the inner sanctum that is his bedroom and there he lies, staring at nothing but the ceiling. The moon. The stars that twinkled. He stays there for an hour before he decides to go to sleep for good, discarding the used robe unceremoniously on the floor and just lies on his bed, back straight, eyes staring ahead, blank and emotionless.

He wonders in his mind if Xingcai is also preparing for bed. It's early. Far too early in the night to desire sleep but then again her early wake up must ask for an early bed time. He wonders himself about the kind of man he could imagine Xingcai courting, the kind of man both would mutually be infatuated with. It would be a serious man, protective in his own right. His frame will be strong but not bulky, built for battle and yet he couldn't imagine this imaginative boyfriend being anything but a scholar. He would have to be a noble to meet the standards of Xingcai's family and yet he would also have to be a man who prefers simplicity. A man who does not desire any excesses but not to a frugal point. He would have to be handsome in a slightly rugged way, he thinks, for he can't imagine Xingcai being in the arms of a man of an androgynous beauty.

With a scowl, he quickly realizes that if his mental image was right, Xingcai's perfect man was his polar opposite. A man he had always aspired to be but knows he can't no matter how hard he tries. He shakes his head and turns his body to the side, away from the haunting moonlight.

"I'll just have to make sure she finds that guy then." He grumbles sleepily.

That night, sleep eludes the emperor, and when it is then captured the dreams are unpleasant. Boring, bland, forgettable.