Author's Notes: Well, not much to say here, this should have come out long ago but I had alot of issues getting it beta'd and that kept in in limbo for a few months, at this point I just decided to say screw it and throw it out anyways. Will likely be doing the same with the next chapter if I can't get a beta within a reasonable time frame.

As always, if you like, hate, or are neutral to the story, feel free to leave a review, I'll read it regardless.

Disclaimer: If I owned Koihime Musou it wouldn't require a fan effort to get Shin Koihime Musou translated.

Chapter 2: To Xianbei

Huang had to admit, the camp following the Coalition was almost more impressive than their army. With so many soldiers involved in the joint operation, the amount of camp followers involved in the force could best be described as a moving city, one that stretched all the way into the distance.

Still pulling his cart containing Kayuu behind him, Huang faced no challenge to enter the camp itself, it seemed that he passed well enough as just another person who made a living off the dead that no one thought to question him. The problem he knew was likely going to be getting out of the massive tent city, seeing as most people would probably use the bodies themselves, or find a buyer for their haul within the camp.

Huang was wondering if he could get his hands on some straw or hay and use that to cover his stow away instead when he encountered a sight that made him further reconsider the intelligence of his plan to escape through the civilian camp.

In an empty square a number of Han soldiers had been gathered, their hands tied behind their backs and they were forced to be on their knees. Around them soldiers, who from what Huang had been told before were from Wei, were standing with their weapons ready. A single officer walking along the line and giving the captured soldiers a single question, they could join Gi's forces or they could die.

Judging by the disturbing number of headless soldiers on one end of the line, it seemed like a good number had taken the latter option.

Huang gulped, and pulled his cart along a bit faster, if he got caught trying to sneak out a Han General he was fairly sure he would find himself dead in a heartbeat. He wasn't about to let himself get killed like that though, especially not after he had just escaped from the battle of Sishui pass.

So Huang continued walking through the camp, keeping his eyes deferentially on the ground a dozen feet infront of him. The former farmer did his best to look as unassuming as he knew how to from years of practice. It seemed to work well enough, and he as before he wasn't challenged by anyone.

Even finding hay proved relatively easy, in a camp this big there were enough unwatched stables for Huang to get some to fill his cart, and even, after he stripped some weapons and armour from them, hide the corpses so he wouldn't have to keep carrying them around.

With Kayuu once more hidden, and note taken of the numerous small wounds the women had, Huang trudged through the camp to his hopeful escape. On the way though he saw another incident of former Han soldiers being cut down, this time by Go soldiers. This time he didn't give them more than a cursory glance, as he was unwilling to once again look at the scene that would assuredly await him if he failed.

Eventually he found himself at the end of the camp, a where once more he went unquestioned. Huang really wasn't sure if he had just gotten lucky, if this was standard military procedure, or if the camp had become so flush with news of their victory that they didn't even bother with the risk of thieves. Regardless of which it was he wasn't about to complain, not when it benefitted him so much.

The issue was when he got out of the camp Huang came to, well not an epiphany since he had considered it previously, but certainly he remembered a rather serious problem. As the farmer looked at the land around him he came to the conclusion that he was totally and utterly lost. Ontop of that he realized that he wasn't even sure that he could go home.

After all he had seen how the Gi and Go were treating their prisoners, and now he was effectively a deserter so he could only assume that he would receive similar treatment if he was caught by the Han again. Then he remembered the other horror tales he had heard before, of old emperors and empresses that had ordered the destruction of entire villages for harbouring a deserter.

He couldn't risk that on his own town, but that left only one other thing. He had heard during his brief stint in the army that in the north there was group of people, called the Xianbei, who accepted deserters into their ranks. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would atleast give him a place to lay low till he was sure the Han were off him.

Ontop of that Kayuu was probably going to need a place to rest, even if none none of the other wounds had stopped her the ex-general had still accumulated a rather worrying number of injuries, and well Huang was sure that he could find treatment easily in a village along the way, it would still take her some time to recover from the battle she had gone through.

So for now Huang decided to follow a road, if nothing else he would atleast pass a village where he could get Kayuu bandaged up, then he would look for the first crossroad and head north from there.

*Scene Break*

"Well I won't ask where she got all those wounds," the elder said as he stepped back from Huang's wagon. Said wagon was currently parked behind one of the few central buildings in the town, and luckily for Huang the doctor was the only other person around, "But I'll say that she seems to already be recovering from most of them. She has a truly remarkable healing rate."

"So will there be anything I need to actually do?" Huang asked, honestly he hoped not because he was not a trained doctor, and the only wounds he had ever taken care of were small cuts from an accidental slip of tools.

The doctor shook his head, "No just change the bandages when they get dirty and keep her well rested and she'll be fine. Now I suggest that since you want to avoid as much notice as possible you get a move on before someone who's curious comes out here to check up on me."

Huang responded by starting to once more cover Kayuu with the hay, and once the task was completed he added, "Thanks, and I hope you find good use for my donation," Said donation was why the elder wasn't asking questions, and had secured the farmer some more durable food for his trip. The medicine man had asked for a good quarter of the armour and weapons he had salvaged from the battlefield, probably planning to melt them down to sell the metals.

Still between rest of the armour and al the arrows he still had on the bottom of the cart, Huang was sure he'd have enough to barter him and Kayuu enough food to make it to Xianbei, and maybe some better transportation for the trip. He personally hoped that he would be able to keep the arrows, he had heard rumours that the Xianbei were a people of the horse and bow and he hoped that the arrows would be a good gift to the people he would be begging to take him in.

Taking his hold on the cart again Huang set off once more, really quite thankful that he had been a farmer for so long, as he was sure without the strength from his profession he would never be able to make it well pulling all this weight.

*Scene Break*

It was nearly noon the next day when Kayuu finally woke up. Huang had put a good distance between them and the village where he had gotten the general patched up and had gotten quite used to the silence that he had expected the day was going to hold for him. So as it was when he heard murmuring from the cart he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Urgh, where…am…"

Huang didn't hear anything more before something happened that did have him jumping out of his skin, namely a blade being held to his neck as he was mid turn. The farmer had to keep his bowels from evacuating when he felt the cold steel pressing against his skin. Unwilling to move his head he instead just glanced out of the corner of his eyes at the now glaring and sitting upright Kayuu.

"Who are you, and why have you kidnapped me," The white haired general said in a tone that said if she didn't like what she heard Huang would be dead before he know it.

Resisting the urge to gulp, Huang slowly moved his hands to hold them palms forward. On reflection he did realized this kind of looked like kidnapping, answering honestly and hoping it was enough the farmer said, "I am Huang, one of your ex-soldiers Ma'am, and I didn't kidnap you. You were badly injured in the battle and I pulled you away before the enemy could capture you."

Kayuu continued to glare, and Huang could only believe that she was still thinking over killing him, so he added, "If I was an enemy why would I have brought your weapon too, or bandaged you up, or not just killed you already."

Still the glare was focused on him, and Huang's legs started to shake a bit, and finally the general spoke, "If you were a Han soldier then where is your weapon and armour?"

"I-I ditched my armour so I wouldn't get spotted trying to sneak you out, and I threw my spear before you were even knocked out."

That new information made Kayuu's glare harden even more, "You were the one who threw their spear at Kan'U weren't you"

"Yes Ma'am," Huang squeaked out, he had no idea why the general seemed to be even angrier than ever at him when she put those two together. The glare remained on him for another minute or so before Kayuu let out an angry sigh and pulled her great axe back. How the injured woman was still able to handle the massive weapon with one hand was beyond the farmer but he wasn't about to question her.

"Then I guess I have to thank you for keeping me alive," Kayuu said, before in a flash the axe blade was right back at Huang's throat, "But if you ever interfere in such a fight again, I will make sure you regret it, understand?"

The farmer gave a very small nod, all that he was willing to risk with the weapon right there, and luckily it seemed to be enough. Letting out a sigh of his own Huang released most of the tension he had built up in the brief encounter and was about to say something when Kayuu beat him too it.

"By your words I can only assume that Sishiu Pass was lost?"

Huang nodded again, "Yes Ma'am, after you fell the battle was lost."

"And what of Hulao Pass?"

"I…do not know General," Huang said again, he knew that the pass was the fortress only a short distance from the fort he had been tasked to defend, and given the time he wouldn't be surprised if it had fallen.

It seemed that Kayuu came to the same conclusion, or just read it off Huang's face, "It's been some time hasn't it?"

"Yes, Ma'am, nearly 3 days now"

Kayuu stared at the surrounding hills in silence, before focusing once more on Huang, "And just where were you planning to take me soldier?"

"To Xianbei Ma'am, we had to get away from the Coalition or they would have killed us both, and I couldn't get us back to the Han without going through the Coalition army."

"So you decided to be a deserter instead?" Kayuu's glare had returned and Huang was stating to reconsider the intelligence of saving the woman.

Still the farmer managed to keep himself mostly together and he responded shakily, "There was no other choice General, the Coalition stood between us and the rest of the Han army and I am sorry for presuming but I do not believe you are in shape to fight. We would only have accomplished getting killed senselessly."

Kayuu continued glaring for another moment before she huffed, "Fine, your logic is sound even if I don't like it, and I can forgive your disloyalty to the Han due to your choice to save me."

"Thank you General," Huang would have said he didn't deserve any thanks but he also noticed that Kayuu had never given him any, "I think you should get more rest though, you took a lot of wounds during the fight and most of them are still healing. I can handle getting us to the next town and hopefully we can get better transportation there."

"This is rather uncomfortable," Kayuu said with a nod before she lay down again, burying her axe under the hay once more. Huang took that as a good indicator that the conversation was done, and turned to pick up the grips of the cart to start off once more.

*Scene Break*

"Well atleast we finally got something more comfortable to travel in then that hand cart, though it's too bad they didn't have any news on the Han" Kayuu said as they left the village, giving a long stretch from the back of the new wagon that Huang had managed to get for them, and the farmer could only agree. The new wagon he had gotten was drawn by a horse, meaning he could finally rest his arms and legs, and he had only had to trade most of the rest of the armour and weapons for it.

For now Huang sat in the front, guiding them down the road well the still wounded general sat in the back on the saved hay, "Well General, it's barely been a week. One can't expect news to reach a small village so quickly, even one so close to the battlefield."

The white haired woman sighed and rubbed her temples as she lay back in the cart, "Well until we hear something either way I refuse to let myself or you cross the Yellow River."

"Of course Ma'am," Huang replied, he wasn't exactly pleased at Kayuu's decision to stay until they knew if the Han would need her assistance, and personally he would rather have left by now. The problem was that there was no way in hell he would ever say no to the incredibly dangerous woman, especially since she still could probably get away with executing him for desertion.

The only good thing in Huang's book about it was that there were still two more villages on the way to river crossing, and that meant that he hadn't yet had to deviate from his chosen course.

Silence ruled for a little while after that, neither of the two were really all that comfortable with eachother yet. Even if Huang had saved Kayuu, the white haired woman didn't know the soldier, and given that she was still hoping that the Han were intact and she could return to her generalship, she didn't want to get to know him. There was also the whole thing about Huang interrupting her fight with Kan'U, spoiling the battle for both sides, and even if she was quite sure the man wasn't planning anything evil, he still had practically kidnapped her.

For Huang it was a bit simpler, he was just plain nervous to be around a woman who had been capable of standing toe to toe with the death loli, and had held an axe to his throat, and as he had admitted when he first saw the woman, was quite attractive.

So the silence dragged on, and well it was awkward, it was more so for Kayuu then Huang. The latter had at times gone days talking to anyone when he had worked his fields. The former wasn't unused to silence but she had always been a commander of some format for some time and had grown used to constant chatter around her.

Luckily for both they only had to put up with it for two hours, and by that time Kayuu had fallen asleep again. Huang himself had begun to nod off, only kept awake by the knowledge of the dangers that could thrive in wooded hills when he heard some shouting in the distance. It was too far to really make out anything, but at the same time he could tell the voices were getting closer by the second.

Even worse was that when he could hear them it really wasn't good, "Just keep your eyes open Shorty, there is sure to be some refugees fleeing Luoyang around here and they'll be ripe for the picking."

"Shit," Huang murmured to himself for a variety of reasons, and then turned in his seat to shake the woman sleeping woman in the back, "General, General you have to wake up. There are bandits coming."

"Urgh, can't you deal with them yourself?" Kayuu muttered sleepily, though she seemed to be getting up atleast.

"Unlikely Ma'am, me not having the a weapon is the least of my problems at that."

Kayuu sat herself up and reached into the hay, searching for her hidden weapon, apparently finding it she growled, "Fine, though you better get a weapon off one of these guys so you can stop being useless."

"Well if it helps General, one of them mentioned something about Luoyang, so maybe they've heard some news."

Kayuu went ridged as soon as Luoyang was mentioned, and her face gained a determined frown, "Well then if you'll excuse me for a minute, I need to go collect some information."

Huang almost shuddered at the tone of her voice, and he did feel very sorry for the trio of bandits that were even now cresting the next hill. They were not exactly the most threatening three, with one being incredibly short, another being about the same height as Huang, and the last was a towering man, but also seemed to be very overweight. All in all if it wasn't for the swords ranging from dagger sized to what amounted to a slab of iron attached to a handle they would looked like they were a comedy troop instead of a group of bandits.

They also had all the fighting prowess of a comedy troop, as in barely the space of a blink Kayuu had crossed the distance, left the short and fat ones knocked out cold on the ground, and was holding her blade to the average looking one's throat. The farmer almost winced in sympathetic pain as he pulled the wagon up to the scene just in time to hear Kayuu's questioning.

"What have you heard about Luoyang, do Totaku and her generals still hold?" The white haired force of nature said, the same frown still on her face.

"W-What the hell ye crazy broad. We were just a pack of travellers and ye just randomly up and attacked us. Y-You've got to pay us b-" That was about as far as the bandit got before he was cut off by the toe of the axe pressing further against his neck.

"Tell me right now or I'll cut your head off and see if you're friends are more agreeable."

"The Coalition and them captured the capital! Totaku's supposed to be dead or something from what I h-heard. Now please don't kill me!"

Kayuu's frown deepened, and she gave out an angry growl as she started to turn away from the bandit, who promptly took the opening to try to stab her in the back. The idiotic bandit learned the error of his ways when he ended up flying into woods nearby from a hit by the flat of the axe.

The now definitely ex-general said nothing as she returned to the wagon, and Huang wasn't about to ask her anything in her current mood. So instead he grabbed the sword the average bandit had left behind when he made his impromptu flight, and got them moving again, off to the land of the horselords.

Post Note: Well I don't usually do these, but felt this was't really good to put up at the top. Personally I don't think this chapter turned out great, and the lack of beta really didn't help in my opinion (I am unfortunately a terrible proofreader), but at the same time I didn't feel that just skipping to Xianbei was a good idea either. Sorry if its terrible, but I promise I'll make it better with the next few chapters.

Also for anyone who also reads my B-Team story, don't worry, I got a chapter coming out for it shortly. I swear this time.