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Chapter 1 - Missing Ignorance
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She glanced back at the Strategist, currently unconscious with his back scraping against the tough bark of the tree, his already bound hands tied high above his head. He had been completely stripped of everything, down to his last piece of clothing, after her minions had dumped his body unceremoniously at her feet.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid husband of mine!' she thought furiously and very much irritated. 'Send him out on one simple task and he still manages to mess the entire scheme up! Why the hell does that damned Wu Kingdom have to have so many damned strategists anyway? Isn't one enough?'
She looked back at the limp body trapped against the tree.
'I told him to abduct the young strategist of the Wu Kingdom, not the Master Strategist. Why can't he follow such simple instructions? I'll have to give him a pounding when he gets back.'
Yet even as she thought these words to herself, she couldn't help but notice just how pretty and fragile looking the Master Strategist looked at that particular moment.
All just for her.
'Well, he'll probably do,' she contemplated; now thoughtfully pondering the handsome features of the bound man before her. 'I can't risk my idiot of a husband not stuffing things up again, meaning that trying to take the other strategist will be worthless now, unless I want this plan to fail. But still,' she ran a single finger down the porcelain cheek, becoming immediately distracted from the foundation of her plans. 'So smooth! His skin is so smooth! Maybe he can be of some use to me after all…'
She didn't bother shifting her hand away even after the body began stirring.
x-x-x-x-x
Sun Ce looked around at the faces staring back at him. Everyone showed little or no surprise, as though their young Lord crashing through the doors while they were eating was a regular occurrence, which it was coming to be.
Pounding steps reached his ears, reminding him of the little competition between himself and his sister.
Quickly, he ran forward, banging his hand on the table, resounding in a satisfying thump that echoed around the room. The table tilted upwards slightly, causing the plates and bowls to slide towards him, before the legs returned themselves to the ground and the cutlery balanced out once again.
Behind him, the sound of pounding feet halted and his sister's voice broke out into the silence.
"That's not fair! You cheated!"
"You saw it coming, sis. Don't feel too bad, after all, no one can ever beat me down!" Sun Ce flashed a hearty grin at her, before taking his seat on the right handed side of his father. Sun Jian's mouth arched slightly in a frown.
"Sun Ce, I sometimes wish you would be more mature," Sun Jian chided, looking down at his first son. "You've disrupted another meal, the fourth time in a single week!"
Sun Ce could only shrug. "Don't worry 'bout it, Pop," he said, reaching forward with his chopsticks as Sun Shang Xiang took her place on the second left seat of their father, next to Sun Quan. "It's not like anybody's actually caring."
Indeed, no one was. Everyone had resumed their meal, acting as though the mild disruption had never really occurred.
Sun Jian sighed. Sometimes, there was just no use in trying to reason with his son. The only person who was ever able to persuade Sun Ce over to their point of view was Zhou Yu. Sun Jian felt himself frowning once again.
Where was Zhou Yu?
He had been missing since the start of the day, not one pair of eyes having set sight on him since the night before. Quickly, he called attention.
"Has anyone seen Zhou Yu?"
Sun Jian's call over the long table stopped the chattering among the Wu Generals, as each person tried to remember whether or not the Master Strategist had been seen that day. Different variations of 'Nope', 'No, Lord Sun Jian' and 'Not since yesterday' sounded in his ears, raising concern for the man he had practically adopted as his own son. His frowned deepened.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Sun Ce's voice rang over the silence, though slightly muffled with the food juggling around in his mouth. He swallowed. "Zhou Yu's a careful fellow. He wouldn't let himself get hurt in any sort of way on some sort of silly adventure – that's my thing. He's probably just gone somewhere because it was too loud for him here in the castle; what's there to be freaked out about? Zhou Yu will turn up, and then we can ask him about wherever the hell it was he went." He paused to steal a piece of roasted chicken from his brother's chopsticks. "I'm not worried. You shouldn't be either."
Sun Jian, as well as the rest of the table, calmed down at Sun Ce's reasoning, though a feeling of pessimism swelled slightly in their chests.
"Did Lord Zhou Yu mention that he would be going anywhere today?" Lu Xun asked the quieted table, now that everyone's thoughts lingered on the unseen Strategist. Another chorus of 'Nope' and 'No' rang through the room.
"He never came to bed, either," Xiao Qiao added, her over-energetic nature now becoming slightly fearful for her husband's whereabouts.
Da Qiao frowned, copying her father-in-law's expression.
"How do you know that, Xiao?" she asked her younger sister. "We both know that Lord Zhou Yu has asked you to leave marital affairs alone for the time being, just as Lord Sun Ce has asked me."
Xiao Qiao's pretty pink cheeks blushed into an intense red.
"Well, it's not like I was actually waiting in his room or anything!" Xiao Qiao gave out a nervous giggle, eyes darting in between confused or amused looks given to her by all the other Generals. "I was just waiting outside for him, that's all! I swear! But he took so long that I couldn't take in anymore so I went back to my room." Xiao Qiao's face turned into a look of concentration. "I waited for like, four hours," she added, on a second thought.
"Tch, Zhou Yu could spend a whole night doing nothing but reading," Sun Ce said. "Four hours is nothing to him."
"But that still doesn't explain his disappearance," Lu Meng said, voicing his thoughts into the conversation.
Sun Ce rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Didn't I say that Zhou Yu could take care of himself? I know; I've been with him for as long as I can remember! I don't think that there's anything that Zhou Yu couldn't do if he puts his mind to it. Too much brains if you ask me."
"But that balances out everything since you don't have the amount of brains you should have," Sun Shang Xiang teased her brother.
Sun Ce stuck his tongue out at her, mimicking the actions she had displayed in the morning.
"Maybe we should send someone out to find him," Lu Xun suggested. "It won't do for him to be missing if Wei or Shu decide to land a surprise attack on us. Our morale is quite low alre-"
"Oh who cares?" Gan Ning's low voice interrupted. "Let them come! I could use a little bit of excitement around here! Once our little soldier-boys see me in action, their morale will boost up so much that Wei and Shu will stand no chance against us!"
"Yeah right, more like they'll fall dead from disbelief that their General is such a show-off."
'Why?' Sun Jian thought to himself. 'Why couldn't they just have one decent meal without an argument taking place between Gan Ning and Ling Tong, without his son bashing through the door when dinner was halfway over?' Sun Jian slumped forward in his sit and sighed heavily.
"I defeated way more Wei scum than you ever could," Gan Ning's declared, voice rising in dynamics as he verbally clashed with Ling Tong. "I can't believe the nerve of you! Like your soldiers even look up to you! If it weren't for your father –"
The table broke upon the wooden floor, smashing whatever had been placed upon its surface in electrifying motion. The delicate pieces of cutlery fell sideways and shattered, hundreds of fragments of expensive tableware littering the floor and scattering around the feet of the shocked Wu Generals.
Ling Tong stood furious, the underside of the table in his lower line of vision. The chair in which he had previously sat in now lay toppled on the floor, accompanying the table on its side. The dishes of the evening's meal set themselves in peculiar positions on the wooden ground; sauces, dips, spices, wholesome and partly eaten cuisines all dirtied the clean floor. The Generals sitting on the opposite side of Ling Tong soon found themselves assaulted with bits of food flying towards them in rough action. Quick reflexes saved most of the clothing from the attack of the flying food, but small splatters of liquid from the wine and sauce managed to sink themselves into the more heavily built forms of the Wu Generals.
Huang Gai and Taishi Ci soon found themselves bombarded with food and wine without the time to manoeuvre out of the way. Luckily, most of the food barely skimmed across them. Unluckily, the millet wine and other liquids had a wider reach, spraying them with droplets of sauces flavoured with ginger or anise. Both men gave out a roar of disapproval, but were ignored now that everyone's attention was focused on the fighting pair.
Ling Tong stared at Gan Ning with slit eyes narrowed in infinite anger, promising death to the pirate he hated since that fateful day. Ling Tong's eyes dared Gan Ning to complete the unfinished sentence. The pirate, in response, leapt to his own feet and readied himself for a fight. Uncertainty flitted through his eyes, however, when Ling Tong did not move. Not a single blink.
"Bastards like you have not a single right to speak my Father's name," Ling Tong hissed, voice dripping with pure venom directed entirely at the man he detested. "What do you know? You come here and strut around like you're the emperor of the world? Putting aside what you did to me, I thought you obnoxious and hateful, I thought you insufferable and repulsive, I thought you brainless, foolish, stupid, idiotic – but now, I know you're beyond everything vile and shameful in this life." As Ling Tong spoke, his voice became lower and lower, until it was a mere whisper. The poisonous malice contained in his words could be heard and interpreted by every person viewing as witness to the scene. "Hope that you do not cross paths with me again, pirate, no matter how closely our destinies are linked; not unless you wish to die the most painful death I would have the pleasure of giving to you."
As soon as the final threat left him, Ling Tong wheeled himself around and gave one respectful short bow to his Lord, who was sitting in shocked stillness.
Ling Tong's quick departure from the room left everyone in utter silence.
Uncomfortable in the midst of taciturnity, for whatever the reason, Gan Ning forced himself to speak.
"What the hell's his problem?"
Once again, heads turned. With every pair of eyes now trained on him, Gan Ning coerced himself to appear aloof at the situation, less his reputation be affected.
"Doesn't he realise that whatever's happened happened? Geez, what's the point of being so melodramatic about everything? One mention about his Dad and he goes and starts beating the living shit in me every way he can. We're on the same side now, aren't we? Can't he kill me and get revenge after the war ends?"
There was no response to his questions. Calculating eyes continued to look at him, and the awkwardness he was feeling began arousing nervousness within him.
"What?"
Still no answer. He shifted from foot to foot, vaguely wondering if the servants had noticed the overwhelming silence that was not becoming of the Wu Castle. Even Sun Ce had nothing to say. Gan Ning was getting desperate; he did not want to be the only with his line of thought – not on a subject like the one he was currently handling.
"Lu Xun?"
He turned to his friend. Lu Xun quickly shook his head and averted his eyes, rising as he did.
"I…ah…I think I'll turn in for the night," Lu Xun gave a very nervous smile, before following Ling Tong's example and presenting a short bow to Sun Jian, though with both hands clasped. Hurried, he exited the room, running away from the embarrassing dilemma to the safety of the outside hall.
'Betrayer,' Gan Ning cursed in his head. He looked at the faces of the Generals that remained, each lowering their eyes or turning away elsewhere when he came to meet them. He let out a slight growl in frustration. Xiao Qiao's nervous voice broke through the constricting silence.
"Um…sis, um, yesterday," she fumbled greatly with her words as she looked for an escape route. "Yesterday you promised to show me how to…to style my hair so that it wouldn't go messy when I wake up!" She grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her to her feet, jumping up as she did so. "Um…it takes a really long to do the hair, right? So…um…let's get a head start!" Xiao Qiao flicked her eyes over the male General that stood under the scrutiny of the other Generals. "Well, goodnight!" As she said that, she pulled her sister towards to door, left wide open as it had never been closed the first time Sun Ce stepped foot into the hall. Suddenly, she turned around, as though an afterthought had occurred to her. "Do you want to come too, Sun Shang Xiang?"
The woman in question immediately stepped up and snatched at the excuse.
"Sure, I'll come!"
With those words said, the three females walked out in giddy, self-conscious steps. Slowly, the Wu Generals poured out one by one, using excuses that would not have been accepted on any other occasion, such as 'I think I accidentally set my bombs to blow', 'I hear Lu Xun calling me – I think I'll go help him' and 'My muscles hurt; the day has not been good to me so I think I'll turn in early'. With meek reasons, Lu Meng, Taishi Ci and Huang Gai shuffled out of the room, no longer caring for their now dry clothing.
All that was left in the room were Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Sun Quan and his faithful protector, Zhou Tai and Gan Ning. The lack of people made the previous awkwardness even more intense than before. Gan Ning felt like a child that had been caught doing something that he should not have been doing, now that all that remained in the room were the utmost important Commanders of Wu. Zhou Tai's presence made it seem as though he were in a sort of formal meeting, now that Zhou Tai had risen from his seat and walked over to stand at Sun Quan's shoulder.
Three emperor-like beings, a bodyguard and an ex-pirate stood alone in the room, the once enticing smells of the forgotten food all but diminished.
Hesitantly, Sun Quan rose from his seat and turned to express his wanted permission to leave the confines of the room to his Father.
"I bid you a good night, Father," Sun Quan said, and too, followed suit and rushed from the room before he could called back with Zhou Tai not far behind him, loyal to the end.
"Gan Ning," Sun Jian began. Sun Ce visibly straightened, ready and all for watching entertainment in the form of the Pirate General being lectured by his Father. After all, it was funny watching other people get in trouble, not so much when he was in trouble. "Gan Ning, this animosity between you and General Ling Tong cannot continue, you both know that, very well I might add. You are both on the same side now, fighting for the same cause. There is no time for internal squabbles. I have seen when you two pit yourselves against each other, General, and I have to say that it is no laughing matter. That kind of aggression should not be directed towards the both of you every time you make presence known to the other. I ask that you remedy this, General Gan Ning, for the sake of myself, your comrades and the Kingdom." Sun Jian looked up at Gan Ning with determined eyes, leaving no room for a single counter.
But Gan Ning being Gan Ning had to have one.
"But did you hear what he said to me? He wants to kill me for hell's sake!"
"Admittedly, General Ling Tong's actions are also in need of instruction, considering the many assassination attempts he has placed upon your life. This does not mean, however, that he is entirely at fault. We all understand that the unfortunate death of his father by your hands could not have been prevented, as you were still then on the opposing army."
Gan Ning opened his mouth, ready to agree with his Lord wholeheartedly.
"Do not interrupt me."
Gan Ning closed his mouth.
"As I was saying," Sun Jian continued. "Both the tendencies you and General Ling Tong have towards each other are reaching breaking point. Due to this, I now hand it your mission to quell this hatred you harbor for one another and pacify the relationship between you. I refuse any retaliation you have for the assignment I have handed to you. I wish you luck."
Having said his final words, Sun Jian stood and walked purposefully out of the room, before making his way to his quarters and welcoming the soothing bliss of the quiet night. Sun Ce gave out a low whistle.
"What a crappy mission to have," Sun Ce commented as Gan Ning let out an emotional groan. "Sucks to you – what Pop told you to do is so way harder than understanding Zhou Yu's battle tactics. And do you have any idea how hard it is to understand what the hell it is he's going on about when he uses words that I have never heard before?"
Gan Ning groaned again, this time from trying to shake out the stiffness in his legs from standing in a still position for too long.
"Shut up, Sun Ce," Gan Ning said, glaring at the Young Lord in exasperation. "No one asked about what you thought."
Sun Ce shrugged, before a cheeky smile highlighted his face. "So, what do you plan to do with Ling Tong?" Sun Ce asked.
"I don't know," the ex-pirate answered. "Can't I just leave things the way they are? He's gotta get tired with this revenge thing sooner or later."
"Pop said to do something."
Gan Ning made a face. "You sound like Zhou Yu."
Sun Ce smiled at the mention of his best friend's name. "Zhou Yu should probably be back from wherever it was he went off to," Sun Ce spoke out loud. "He'll probably be in his room, or office. I can't believe he missed the whole thing! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to recount what happened for him, and then maybe he could think something up for you. I mean, seriously, how hard can it be for you to make friends with Ling Tong? He's got a nasty tongue, that's for sure, but he's a pretty cool guy, don't you reckon?" Sun Ce stopped in his musings to look pointedly at Gan Ning, before resuming. "Anyway, good luck. I'm gonna go find Zhou Yu now." Sun Ce offered Gan Ning a small smile and wave of the hand in support of the task the Gan Ning had been given to accomplish and walked out of the room like everyone else.
Gan Ning let out a final groan at his amazingly bad luck and was about to follow Sun Ce out of the door when a thought crossed his mind. Flipping the table back so that the legs were actually on the ground, Gan Ning let a smirk take over his face when the table landed upright.
'I'll let the servants take care of the mess,' Gan Ning thought, eyeing the cold meat with distaste. Upon making it back to his quarters, Gan Ning collapsed wearily on his bed, sighing in content and irritation. Today just had not been his day. First off, he had been beaten in combat by a kid one head shorter than him, then he had let himself get embarrassed by Ling Tong and now…
'Stupid Sun Jian and his stupid mission,' Gan Ning thought in contempt. Utterly tired from what the day had brought about, Gan Ning had never been more grateful when the callings of sleep drifted him off into a world of dreams.
x-x-x-x-x
Sun Ce burst open the door that stood between him and the room belonging to Zhou Yu, expecting to see a human form within since his search for the Strategist had turned up empty in said strategist's office. There was nothing.