Chapter Two: Distraction
From his spot under the oak tree, Zhou Yu watched the newest game of Ultimate and wondered how many of his fellow students were reincarnated – or, rather, reborn – souls. Or was it consciousnesses? Zhou Yu wasn't sure he understood Buddhist theology, but he supposed it didn't matter. A past life had presented itself for more than one of them.
First, his gaze moved from Zhao Yun to Zhuge Liang, then to Guan Yinping and Sun Ce. When he added in Cao Pi, Lu Xun, and himself, this meant seven of them remembered being generals. But there were five more in their group: Guo Jia, Cai Wenji, Bu Lianshi, Huang Yueying, and Zhen Luo, whom they'd nicknamed Zhenji. Did any of them have similar dreams?
And, perhaps most curious of all, research had revealed to Zhou Yu that if all twelve members of their group were reincarnated, then there were four officers per kingdom. Somehow that seemed too perfect to be a coincidence.
As Zhou Yu watched, Yueying tossed the Frisbee toward Zhuge Liang. They were both juniors and had been dating for the last two years. Zhenji moved to intercept. She was a junior who was dating Cao Pi, a freshman. They broke up and got back together every two weeks, it seemed. Guo Jia was too busy flirting with Cai Wenji to notice the game; they were both sophomores. The one who succeeded in intercepting was Zhao Yun, who was a junior. Guan Yinping was a senior, and Bu Lianshi – like Lu Xun, Sun Ce, and himself – was a freshman. Interestingly, they represented very few majors, all of which were rather suggestive: political science, criminal justice, pre-law, or history. The only exceptions were Cao Pi and Cai Wenji, who were music majors. Also telling was that every one of them, even including the timid Cai Wenji, had taken or was still taking martial arts. The forms varied a great deal – tai chi, karate, kung fu, judo, kendo, or tae kwon do – but still, they had all been trained. Other than playing Ultimate, sparring with each other was one of their favorite pastimes. Well, with the exception of Cao Pi, who spent more time alone than anything.
The longer Zhou Yu considered it, the stranger it all became.
Zhou Yu didn't realize he'd been lost in thought until a burst of laughter drew his attention back to the group. Sun Ce was holding the Frisbee over Zhao Yun's head as though it were a halo. Zhao Yun swatted it away, grinning, and Sun Ce tossed it to Zhuge Liang. With that, the group split up. Zhou Yu watched Sun Ce amble across the lawn toward him and had to smile. Sun Ce was almost always in a good mood, almost always grinning. He was Zhou Yu's exact opposite: extroverted, charismatic, laidback, spontaneous, and sometimes brash. Being around Sun Ce was like being around a miniature sun: his warmth and glow infused his friends.
Realizing how incredibly romantic that thought was, Zhou Yu pushed it away.
Plopping onto the grass, Sun Ce settled beside his new best friend. "Hey, man. Any luck?" He gestured toward Zhou Yu's calculus book.
Zhou Yu groaned, shutting the book and shoving both it and his notebook into his backpack. "No. Not much, anyway."
"Given your grades, I think you can take a single hit." Sun Ce elbowed him. "Mr. Genius."
"I'm not a genius."
"And which class do you have less than a 99 percent in?"
Zhou Yu sighed, giving up. Sun Ce was barely pulling C's in his classes, although it had much more to do with lack of self-application than lack of intelligence. Sun Ce lived very much in the moment and had trouble concentrating or sitting still for long periods of time. "I just study hard."
"Yeah, whatever." Sun Ce grinned. However, he quickly grew serious. "Still thinking about reincarnation and stuff?"
"You know it." Zhou Yu found himself gazing too long at Sun Ce's handsome face and forced himself to look away. Across the lawn was a gazebo where Zhuge Liang and Yueying sat holding hands. Robins hopped on the gazebo steps, pausing to peck, and a cool breeze washed over them, swaying the grass. The scene held a tranquility that Zhou Yu didn't feel. "If we're all supposedly atoning for past mistakes, then we wouldn't need to find each other, right? But I feel like there must be a bigger reason for us all to be gathering in the same place."
"If that's the case, I wonder where the older generation is," Sun Ce said. "Like Sun Jian, Liu Bei, and Cao Cao."
"Or Guan Yu, Huang Gai, and Xiahou Dun?" It was a good question. "There are a few Asian American professors on campus." One of them was his history teacher, as a matter of fact.
"And one visiting professor from China," Sun Ce added. "He's in the music department. I heard Wenji talking about him."
Zhou Yu looked back at Sun Ce. "If they're reincarnated, too . . ."
"I can't help but think that means trouble somehow," Sun Ce finished for him.
"That's what worries me." However, Zhou Yu couldn't imagine what kind of trouble would arise in the small, indistinct town of Masonville.
Standing, Sun Ce held out his hand. "Hey, man. We're college students. We don't have time to worry about those kinds of things. Let's go eat."
Although the help wasn't necessary, Zhou Yu didn't pass up the opportunity to accept Sun Ce's hand. Sun Ce pulled him to his feet, and their hands remained clasped just a moment too long. Sun Ce's hand was warm and strong, and Zhou Yu felt a blush creeping into his cheeks.
Sun Ce grinned and released him. Interestingly, his own cheeks were flushed. Zhou Yu couldn't be sure if that was from the exercise or if Sun Ce also had a crush on him.
"What do you bet it's fish?" Sun Ce asked.
Zhou Yu snorted. For some reason no one could explain, their cafeteria served fish at almost every meal. Fish and rice. They often joked that the cafeteria manager must be Japanese. "No doubt."
"We could get pizza instead." Sun Ce headed across the lawn to the sidewalk.
Zhou Yu grabbed his backpack and followed, wishing they could hold hands. The mere thought caused a surge of heat to flash through his body, but he was much too uncertain to make a move. Sometimes he met guys and just knew they were like him. This was not one of those times. And high school had taught him that no matter how liberal a community seemed, classmates weren't always so accepting.
Not to mention that he didn't want to screw up their friendship or their ability to share a room.
Realizing he hadn't answered, Zhou Yu drew his attention back to the issue at hand. "Pizza's fine." Even as a small campus, they still had a pizza joint and a burger joint.
When they arrived at the pizza place, they put in their order at the front counter and then searched for a table. Noticing Cai Wenji and Zhenji, they waved and were immediately invited to sit.
Zhou Yu thought both the girls were beautiful with their long, shiny, black hair and smiles. They always had their hair pinned in seemingly impossible plaits and twists, which made them look exotic. Zhenji especially stood out, always dressing in Catholic school girl uniforms, baby doll dresses, or conversely, qi pao. Cai Wenji, who appealed to Zhou Yu more, wore an array of girly pink and blue outfits with frills and lace. Had the girls not been interested in someone else, and had Zhou Yu not gotten a crush on Sun Ce, he would have considered asking out one of them.
"You should join in our games," Zhenji said to Zhou Yu as he took a seat. "Don't just watch."
"Or we should spar," Cai Wenji said. Both Zhou Yu and she practiced tai chi.
"That'd be great," he told Cai Wenji. He smiled self-deprecatingly. "I don't have the energy for Ultimate, though." In an instant, he'd launched a strategy to ask the girls about their dreams. Or open the door to, anyway.
Zhenji snorted. "One but not the other? Why not?"
"I've been having the weirdest dreams," Zhou Yu said. "Enough to lose sleep. I mean, I've had weird dreams all my life, but I've had a lot more since I came to college."
Cai Wenji's brow furrowed. "What kind of weird dreams?"
Perfect. "The kind that are like memories," Zhou Yu said.
Sun Ce raised an eyebrow, apparently seeing what he was up to.
"I dream I'm a general in ancient China," Zhou Yu continued. "There's a ton of details. It's not like a normal dream."
Cai Wenji and Zhenji traded pointed looks.
"Are you always the same person in the same place?" Zhenji asked.
I knew it. "Yeah. I'm a strategist for the Wu kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period."
Cai Wenji nodded slowly. "I have dreams and memory flashes like that. I'm a poet and a musician, and I've been taken captive by nomads. Cao Cao rescues me."
"Lucky," Zhenji said, smirking. "I dream I'm married to Cao Pi. In some dreams, we're happily married, but in others he has a lot of concubines, and when I express my jealousy, he orders me to commit suicide."
Zhou Yu flinched.
"Whoa, harsh!" Sun Ce leaned forward on his elbows. "If that's the case, why date a guy who calls himself Cao Pi now?"
Zhenji slumped back in her chair. "Who knows? Revenge maybe. Or am I trying to fix it?" She sighed. "Of course it takes two to fix something."
Zhou Yu wondered what kind of revenge she meant to take and if this Cao Pi could really be said to deserve it.
"What about you?" Cai Wenji asked Sun Ce.
"I have all sorts of dreams," Sun Ce said. "But I'm always the same guy, yeah. A leader. Sun Jian's son. I'm fighting in most of my dreams or maybe riding a horse."
Zhou Yu heard their number be called, but Sun Ce hopped up. "I'll get it." He returned shortly with a large supreme pizza with extra pepperonis.
The girls, who had apparently shared a personal pizza and a salad, giggled at the monster pizza Sun Ce revealed. Zhou Yu wondered why women tortured themselves so much about their weight.
"So how many of us remember shit like that?" Sun Ce asked, pulling a slice out of the box.
"Well, if you two do, then that makes all of us," Zhenji said. "We weren't sure about you two, Lianshi, and Lu Xun, but Zhao Yun said Lu Xun does. And we asked Lianshi over the weekend, and she does. So with you guys, that's everyone."
Zhou Yu paused, his hand halfway to the box. "Everyone? Really?"
"That's heavy," Sun Ce said.
"Maybe California is going to secede from the U.S.," Zhenji said, "and is going to split into three different kingdoms. Wenji and I will fight you for L.A."
"Hey, I want San Francisco anyway," Sun Ce said.
They all laughed, which dismissed the tension that had begun building.
Zhou Yu grabbed a slice of pizza, but he couldn't deny that the confirmation of his theory – fear? – made him uneasy. Also, he clearly was not the only one considering what it might mean.
A random thought shot through his mind, and he glanced at Sun Ce, who wore his typical red shirt and smile. If we're here for some kind of fight, then you'll be in charge of the Wu group, and Lu Xun and I will be your strategists.
That thought made him warm.
The man who barged into the room was six foot five inches tall and carried 220 pounds of solid muscle. His hair hung down his back in a low ponytail, the black interrupted by streaks of red and blue. Silver studs ran up his ears, matching the silver barbell in his eyebrow, and he was dressed in black leather. "Hey, Old Man."
The elderly gentleman at the altar glanced over his shoulder. "Could you have not waited, Luke?"
"Don't call me that," the younger man growled, although he knew the monk had done so to "punish" him for the interruption. "Don't tell me you're still praying for more reborn souls."
The monk reached out and traced the edges of the jade lantern that set on the altar. Incense burned on each side, sending thin curls of smoke into the air. "I must never stop."
Luke snorted. "Why? A baby couldn't come to The Assembly anyway. Besides, we don't have nine months to wait."
"The Sacrifice requires thirteen souls," the monk said, turning to face his visitor. "Four for phase one and nine for phase two. Also, there must be warriors left to fight in the Grand Battle. I can never be sure how many souls I have summoned, so I must keep praying."
Luke was well aware that the number four was considered bad luck in China, so he wondered why such an unlucky omen was attached to the spell. Still, nine was a lucky number. Since four evoked death, being pronounced like the word for death, and nine evoked something long-lasting, being pronounced like the word for long-lasting, he supposed the spell could be numerically associated with long-lasting death. That seemed ironic. "Whatever, Old Man. Just came to say we're all in position." He narrowed his eyes. "And bored."
"Patience, Young Punk," the monk said. "We have to wait for the spring equinox. The spell will not work on anything other than a solstice or equinox. Until then, size up your competition."
"None of them are worth fighting," Luke spat. "We can round them up like sheep. If I even break a sweat it'll be hella amazing."
"You might be surprised."
"There's no fucking way."
The monk inhaled deeply and faced the altar again. "Just make sure the urn remains protected. There is no easy way to carry out our plan without The Assembly."
"Yeah, yeah." Luke paused as a beautiful young woman came to the door, leaning against the doorway. He grinned. "Gotta go. Don't strain too much while you're praying. We don't want you to have a stroke or something."
The monk snorted. "Don't look so much like a damn stereotype. You need to fit in at your new job, not look like the posterboy of twenty-something angst."
Laughter met this comeback. "Whatever. I wear this shit because it scares people. To me, clothes are just clothes."
"And cut your hair."
"Hell, no. That's off-limits." Luke took his girlfriend's hand and swept from the room, banging the door shut and leaving the elderly monk to his ancient artifacts and archaic prayers.
That night, Zhou Yu found himself staring blankly at his computer screen, unable to focus on his research paper. This time he was distracted by the thought that he didn't want to fight his new friends. If the group broke into three kingdoms again, then Zhou Yu would have to fight Zhao Yun, whom he deeply respected. Not to mention he was also slowly becoming friends with Guan Yinping, Guo Jia, and Cai Wenji. In fact, the only person in the group that he wasn't comfortable with was Cao Pi; he seemed too distant and condescending.
Deciding that Zhou Yu was gone, his laptop went to sleep.
"Dammit." Zhou Yu sighed and stood, heading over to the miniature refrigerator. He rarely drank anything other than green tea or water, but he decided to treat himself to a root beer. He grabbed a can and popped it open, taking a swig. A flood of sugar hit his tongue, along with the faint taste of mint and the burn of carbonation.
"Distracted?" Sun Ce looked up from his homework. He twirled his pencil between two fingers, his eyes heavy-lidded with boredom.
"Yeah." Zhou Yu settled on a beanbag. Sun Ce loved beanbags and had bought two for their room. Just like most of Sun Ce's wardrobe, the bags were red.
Sun Ce stood and stretched, tossing down his pencil. "Thinking about having to save the world or some shit like that?"
"More like I don't want to fight the others," Zhou Yu said.
"I really don't want to fight Yun," Sun Ce replied. "That'd be a bitch."
Since Zhou Yu had sparred with Zhao Yun once, he knew that was true. Zhao Yun had a black belt in both judo and karate. He made a formidable opponent.
"Plus he's a great guy," Sun Ce said.
"Yeah, that's my point exactly." Zhou Yu took another swig of root beer and set the can on the floor.
Sun Ce grabbed a can as well, popping it open as he relocated to the other beanbag. "Well, hopefully it won't come to that, and worrying about it ahead of time won't help. We don't even know what's going on."
Zhou Yu couldn't deny that.
Unfortunately, when Zhou Yu went to sleep that night, no amount of optimism would help. He dreamt the one nightmare he had never wanted to repeat: Sun Ce's death.
Instead of happening in battle, it had been an ambush. Everyone had been preparing to celebrate their most recent win. Sun Quan and he had been outside, talking with Sun Shangxiang, who had Lianshi with her. Sun Ce had stumbled up, speaking in broken sentences, complimenting them, telling Sun Quan what a good leader he would make.
Zhou Yu found himself kneeling on the stone pathway, holding Sun Ce in his arms. Arrows pierced Sun Ce's back, and he had a wound to his jaw as well. Hot blood seeped through Zhou Yu's clothing, turning the white to red. Don't go. But he couldn't speak, couldn't interrupt Sun Ce's final words to his brother. Don't leave me. Sun Ce's words didn't register in his ears, only the deafening roar of cicadas. I need you. He could feel Sun Ce's muscles trembling, shuddering under his touch. I can't do this without you. But he would have to. His chest ached with swallowed sobs.
Sun Ce slumped.
Zhou Yu toppled out of bed, hitting the floor with a yelp.
For a moment, he stared through the darkness, unsure what had happened. Hadn't he just been holding Sun Ce's body in his arms? Where was he? Then he recognized the side of his dorm room bed.
"Yu!" Sun Ce's worried voice cut through the darkness. He hopped out of bed and knelt by him. "What happened?"
Zhou Yu wasn't entirely sure. He hadn't fallen out of bed since he was seven years old. "I dreamt you died." His voice came out thinner than he'd expected, as though they really had known each other since childhood, as though they had long since been as close as brothers.
But they had. Zhou Yu could remember it.
"It was just like the first dream," Zhou Yu whispered, his gaze pinned to the mattress. "I could feel your blood, hear the cicadas . . . You were talking, and then you just slumped." His chest still hurt.
Sun Ce threw his arms around Zhou Yu, hugging him so hard his back popped. "I'm sorry, man. I don't have dreams like that. Not about me. Not about you. I've had them about Sun Jian – well, my dad, apparently."
Stunned, Zhou Yu didn't respond to the hug at first. Then he wrapped his arms around him, stealing a hug while he still could. Feeling warm, strong arms around him now, in this life, banished the dream and the pain in it. I lost you. I got you back. He barely managed to hold in his next thought: Don't go this time! Stay with me.
"Ah, man . . . It's okay." Sun Ce rubbed his back. "I'm here now, right? And I ain't dying young this time."
This was definitely more than a friendly hug. Even as Zhou Yu suffered a pang at the reminder of Sun Ce's short life, a competing warmth swept through him. He hugged Sun Ce harder. "You better not!"
"I promise."
Kiss me. Zhou Yu wanted him to so badly, but he wouldn't initiate. He wouldn't take that risk. He wondered if he'd had a crush on Sun Ce the first time through. Was it possible? He had no idea about the culture surrounding sex in ancient China.
Sun Ce released him, and Zhou Yu could have cursed with frustration. Maybe he should rethink his no-risk strategy after all.
"How did you die?" Sun Ce asked quietly. "And when?"
"I died ten years later, at age 35." Zhou Yu stared at his lap. "I was ill. I think it was an infection from a wound that wouldn't heal." He'd had few dreams about that, and none of them specific on the details. He just had dreams of being in bed and feeling weak and a few about a nasty wound in his side.
"Don't you die either, then," Sun Ce said. "We should both live to be 90 this time."
Zhou Yu smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great."
Given how many battles they'd been in, he wondered how they'd made it as long as they had the first time, and he hoped whatever was happening this time wouldn't assure them a quick death, either.
