Youzhou province, along the border of Zhuo and Gi's holdings, near Lecheng

Nine months, three weeks, and five days after the prophesied arrival of the Messenger of Heaven

Honshou Enshou rode on the back of her magnificent white horse at a quick gallop with curses spilling from her lips as she snapped the reins. Her cavalry rode alongside her, while the foot soldiers served as a wall between her, the cavalry, and the very determined Zhuo soldiers chasing them down, led by Zhuo's very own Unchou Kan'u.

It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. She was supposed to crush Zhuo like the insignificant collection of bugs that it was, not be forced on the run after barely two hours of fighting. The insufferable bastard that was Ragna of Zhuo had insulted her and her family, and yet she was in no position to deal the righteous punishment that he so deserved.

"At least Bunshuu and Ganryou were good enough to hold them off," she muttered to herself, staring forward at the gates of the city of Lecheng. "And now that I'll make it to Lecheng after all, I'll have forces and resources to make him pay. Not even that ill-born bastard and his army would be willing to lay siege to a city that made no trouble with him in the first place." A nasty smirk crossed her face. "Kouchuu will be more than willing to deal with him if it'll keep her brat safe."

She briefly spared a look behind her, and repressed a shudder at the sight of the sea of green Zhuo soldiers attempting to pursue them. She remembered Ragna and all his lackeys from their anti-Toutaku alliance, and though the insults he had dealt her burned and rankled, she knew better than to try and take him on now.

She'd have to wait for her chance, and Kouchuu would provide it.

Far behind Enshou, Kayuu was still waiting for her chance to attack Ganryou. The short-haired En general was definitely less athletic than Bunshuu, but she was more observant. Kayuu could probably overwhelm her with one rush and a few well-placed blows; the hard part would be landing those blows without getting hit by the hammer, because even if Ganryou was weak, a good hit from that hammer would shatter Kayuu's bones through the sheer weight.

While Bunshuu moaned and groaned on the ground, Ganryou and Kayuu circled around each other, waiting for the other to move. By now, any of the En soldiers that were left in the area had already fled, either to catch up with the retreat that Ganryou had called or to buy that retreat as much time as possible to advance, leaving only the Zhuo soldiers under Kayuu's command in the area.

Kayuu's amber eyes were narrowed tightly enough to hide her surprise at how much calmer Ganryou was. It was maybe because she'd been backed into a corner with no one except her soldiers and herself to back her up. Even if Bunshuu got up, her leg would be too damaged to allow her to act as any real support.

Then, Ganryou made the first move by rushing forward and swinging her hammer in a wide horizontal arc. Kayuu evaded it easily, but was left in a less favorable position when Ganryou then slammed the hammer against the ground. The vibrations shook Kayuu's stance and enabled Ganryou to strike out with another blow from the hammer, catching Kayuu in the ribs and sending her flying. With a yell and a cough, Kayuu went flying backward a bit and hit the ground not more than a moment later. She got back to her feet shortly afterward, then stared angrily at Ganryou, spitting out a wad of blood.

Ganryou thought she did a good job of staying nonchalant, at least externally; the only thought really running through her brain was something like oh Gods above I actually hit her she's going to kill me I have to run—no, damn you, fight! Iishe is lying right goddamn there, you coward!

"Now, now, no need to look like that," Kayuu said, wiping her mouth. A harsh grin crawled across her face, and Ganryou stepped backward, instinctively shying away from the bloodlust in Kayuu's face. "You finally got me a little bit excited, and then you kill the mood by starting to get scared. If you back out now, you're gonna lose more than this fight, girl!"

Ganryou let out a shuddering breath, then braced herself, refusing to retreat but also refusing to rush into a situation that she knew would end poorly. Unfortunately, that hesitation was all Kayuu needed, and with a grunt of equal parts exertion and pain, Kayuu jumped upward, whirling her Adamant Axe in a crescent arc. Ganryou attempted to defend, and caught the halberd just below its cutting edge with the head of her hammer, but was not able to respond when Kayuu landed and swung the bardiche like she was swatting a golf ball, raking the edge up Ganryou's heavy armor. Ganryou shrieked as the force of the blow lifted her into the air and gouged a good chunk out of said armor; Kayuu then raised her Adamant Axe again and swung it down in a clean vertical line, slamming the shaft into Ganryou's stomach and knocking her back down to earth.

The force of the blow made the ground shake, and stirred Bunshuu into consciousness just in time to see Kayuu nudge an unconscious Ganryou in the ribs with her foot. Naturally, Bunshuu's adept and quick-thinking mind jumped to the conclusion that Ganryou had been killed, and so she flopped around like an idiot as she tried to stand up.

Kayuu saw this, and rolled her eyes in annoyance, brushing some dirt off of one of the belts that hung from her waist with her right hand. Her left hand held her halberd at the middle of the shaft, with the butt of the weapon jammed firmly into the ground. "Stay down there, you idiot. Your leg is broken and Ganryou's just fine. I only knocked her out, same as I did to you. If you're going to insist on struggling, then I'll waste the energy to kill you as badly as you want."

Bunshuu had enough energy to snarl, but followed Kayuu's advice and gave up the fight to get up again. A minute or two after that, Ragna and Houtou rode up, surveying the battlefield; Ragna soon turned his attention to Kayuu, who stared up at him with a mix of defiance and uncharacteristic calm. "I take it you're responsible for those two," he said, gesturing to Bunshuu and Ganryou. "Going by their clothes, they're pretty high up in what that idiot Enshou calls an army." He looked at Bunshuu next. "Am I right or what?"

"You're not mistaken," Bunshuu said. Despite Kayuu's warning, she slowly got to her feet after a moment of struggle, but soon planted her sword in the ground to support herself. "I'm Bunshuu, and the girl that Kayuu just knocked out is Ganryou. We're Lady Reiha's highest-ranking commanders."

Kayuu ran a hand through her hair, dislodging some dirt. "Ganryou sent the rest of their soldiers on ahead. Probably to make sure Enshou got away, but I don't know where they were thinking of going. Kan'u left me in charge of a group of soldiers here and went to pursue with the rest of the generals."

Ragna nodded, then focused a red-and-green glare on Bunshuu. "Well, you're the first high-ranking prisoner we've pulled in during this little campaign. I'm pretty sure you know where Enshou's headed off to, so why don't you play nice and tell me? We're not planning on killing you whether you cooperate or not, but I'm not gonna promise that I'll feel the same way about Enshou if you make it hard for me to find her."

Bunshuu met Ragna's eyes with sheer defiance in hers. Because she did so, she did not see the veins that began to stand out on Kayuu's furrowed brow and clenched fists. "You might've been able to get a treasonous dog like Kayuu and the rest of those Luoyang scum to turn tail, but my family's served the En house for generations. We won't break our oaths that easily."

Shortly afterward, Bunshuu's jaw broke instead, as Kayuu punched her back down to the ground and knocked her out. Houtou gasped and turned her head away, while Ragna watched silently. After letting out a few ragged breaths, Kayuu stilled her trembling right fist, despite how it stung from striking Bunshuu down, and opened it back up into a hand, then turned toward Ragna with her normal scowl on her face. By the look of it, she hadn't even wasted an ounce of energy on the entire act. "My squad will take care of her and Ganryou. You should go on ahead and catch up with Kan'u."

"Then get moving," Ragna said. "You saw 'em running, so you lead the way, show us where they're going."

His expression, Kayuu noted, did not dismiss her or challenge her, did not judge or mistrust her. If she had to put it to words, she would say that it simply examined her, and found approval in what it saw. It was the same look that he would give to Kan'u, to Chouhi, to Ryofu, Chouryou, Kousonsan, any of his generals—that he had not, until now, given to her.

It was a look that simply accepted them as they were, and accepted their work.

Something about that change made Kayuu feel slightly less irritated overall.

She forgot about it after a moment, though, mostly because of the angry burn in her ribs where she'd been struck and the cough that wracked her body afterward. Another glob of blood flew out of her mouth and hit the ground; she wiped away what was left on her lips and shook her head, clicking her tongue in annoyance. She looked down at where she'd been struck, and sure enough, an angry red-blue bruise was beginning to spread up to the edge of her halter top, standing out all the more against her relatively pale skin. Ragna, of course, noticed this, and motioned to a soldier nearby. "Get some bandages and a horse for Kayuu."

Kayuu shook her head, and winced when her ribs stung her again; however, whatever protest she could have made was silenced when Ragna intensified his attention on her, wordlessly ordering her to relax. Silently, she sat down and took a few even breaths to take her mind off of the pain, resting her Adamant Axe next to her and closing her eyes to further block the sting of her injury. And as she did so, she remembered Ragna's sober, accepting gaze, and how Kan'u had seemed so confident in leaving her with her own squad.

Her stomach warmed slightly with the realization that they were starting to trust her now, and that she welcomed that trust.

Youzhou province, outside of Lecheng

Nine months, three weeks, and five days after the prophesied arrival of the Messenger of Heaven

By the time Kayuu, Ragna, and Houtou caught up to Kan'u and the others, morning had gradually transitioned into afternoon. The entire Zhuo army was waiting a few minutes away from the gates to the city itself, shifting around uncomfortably and staring at the gates without saying a word.

Of course, when Ragna rode up and saw this, he responded with a bit of confusion, bringing Cerberus to a halt and hopping off with a furrowed brow and a scowl on his face. "The hell are you all doing waiting out here? What's the matter?"

Kan'u gave him a flat stare in response, the kind that said "please tell me you're not serious right now." "Lord Ragna, Lecheng is a neutral city. Did you forget that?"

Ragna pressed his lips together in a line, and Kayuu sighed. "By the look of it, he did forget." She glared at the back of his head. "Moron, even I know what that means. Were you seriously thinking that even if Enshou was in the city, you'd be able to just march in and knock their doors down without causing any problems?"

The annoyed grunt that burst out of Ragna's mouth more or less confirmed that he'd been thinking of doing just that. Even Houtou looked significantly unimpressed by Ragna's forgetfulness, and said, "Lord Ragna, you just signed the treaty with Lecheng not more than a week ago. One of the provisions was that you would not march in force on the city without due cause—which you do have in this case. However, with Enshou occupying the city, we need to move delicately or we'll do more harm than good."

Chouhi rubbed her chin, then grinned. "Kayuu is right. Big brother's a moron."

"OK, enough of that bullshit," Ragna said, drawing his brows together tightly. "Can we cut the insults and start trying to think of a plan that'll get us in there and Enshou out? Please?"

"Well, we don't have a lot in the way of options at the moment, Lord Ragna," Bachou said. "Granted, the people of Lecheng would probably be more than happy to toss Enshou out on her spoiled behind considering that she forcefully took over their town." She rolled the shaft of her spear between her fingers as she stared at the city. "But, even with our victory and capture of Bunshuu and Ganryou, Enshou's got enough soldiers to outlast us in a siege. And keep in mind that we're close to Gi's borders even now. If Sousou catches word that we're out here and decides to retaliate—either against us, or against Xizang—we could really lose big."

Just being reminded of Sousou put a twist to Ragna's expression that would have soured milk. "Right, forgot about that. Shit." He scratched the back of his head, and let out an angry moan. "God damn it, this is why I hate this job sometimes. We go in there, we turn into the enemy and our reputation takes a hit. We don't, Enshou gets away to pull this bullshit again."

Ragna's dark mood began to quietly demoralize the others, but it broke when a soldier came running up to them. "Lord Ragna! I have two messages from Lecheng that you need to hear!"

With a bit of effort, Ragna put on his "listening scowl" and folded his arms, looking at the soldier with half-opened eyes. "The clock's ticking. Talk."

"Well, the first is from the lord of Lecheng, Kanshou Kouchuu. She says that she's aware of what you're here for, and states that she's willingly sheltering Enshou and her troops from our aggression. If our forces don't withdraw, she'll deal with us herself."

Kan'u shook her head and frowned, narrowing her eyes. "How convenient for Enshou."

The soldier nodded, and the look of distaste on his bronzed features showed his agreement just as clearly. "The other message came from a commoner that was leaving Lecheng; he said it was a message from someone else directly for you. According to that message, Kouchuu's daughter has been abducted by Enshou's forces, and Enshou is using that to pressure Kouchuu into fighting us." The soldier frowned, then snapped his fingers. "The commoner said that the message was from 'a rising dragon that has witnessed Zhuo's power before'."

Houtou frowned at that, as if the name brushed vaguely on the edge of her conscience, but after a moment, Kan'u and Kousonsan both snapped their fingers, causing Ragna and the others to look in their direction.

"You mind sharing with the rest of the class?" Ragna asked.

"It's from Shiryuu Chou'un, that sly little witch," Kousonsan said, almost laughing. "She always enjoyed cryptic little jokes like that." Her almost-cheerful expression took on an exasperated edge. "Sometimes a little bit too much."

Ragna only looked more confused, and Kan'u added, "The 'ryuu' in Chou'un's name means 'dragon', Lord Ragna.I forgot that wordplay like that isn't your strong suit." She smiled. "But this is good news. Now we're positive that that information is valid. It only leaves us with a plan to formulate."

With the matter explained, Ragna nodded, and closed his eyes in concentration. "If we try to let slip to Kouchuu that we know what's going on, then there's the chance that Enshou could overhear somehow or another and do something even stupider than capturing the girl in the first place. If we buy time, maybe we can send someone into the city to meet up with Chou'un and rescue the girl. Then from there, Kouchuu stands down, we get our spoiled blonde brat, I punch her out, we go home with three shiny new captives in hand."

"Enshou didn't leave Nanpi completely unguarded, though," Houtou said, adjusting her hat. "Her cousin Enjutsu is managing the city in her absence. They've been reported...to have a little bit of a rivalry, but it's likely that she would at least try to save Enshou if we captured her." Her green eyes filled with a determination that Ragna only rarely saw in her. "If we want this to end, we'll have to march on Nanpi and take it for our own before we go back to Xizang."

Kan'u nodded her agreement, but knew from the pensive look that Ragna gave both her and Houtou that he probably only halfway agreed. "Let's see how this turns out first, Hinari. Remember that we still have Sousou to contend with; keeping her from overpowering us is about as important, if not more so, than surviving this fight."

"Read my mind, Aisha," Ragna said. He looked down at Chouhi. "Rinrin. You're probably the fastest runner we've got. You get into Lecheng, find Chou'un, and help her rescue Kouchuu's kid; send us a signal somehow or another once you've gotten the kid out of Lecheng and away from Enshou's men. I'll go with Aisha to keep Kouchuu busy, and Houtou will stay behind with Kousonsan, Kayuu, and Bachou to manage the troops."

Everyone nodded, seeing what Ragna was getting at. He and Kan'u would serve as fairly tantalizing bait, allowing Chouhi and Chou'un to save Kouchuu's daughter while Houtou and the others would be primed to take down any escaping En soldiers. Of course the plan was dangerous and exceedingly risky, but by now it was pretty much par for the course that any of Ragna's plans followed that ideal. At this point the only real concern anyone ever had was just how close to death they would get, and how many of them would get that close to death to begin with.

"Aisha, are you fine with fighting Kouchuu first?" Ragna asked, climbing back onto Cerberus. "I think she'll be more tempted to take it seriously if we set it up so that she has a shot at me after beating you, if you get what I mean."

Kan'u's face lit up. "I'd be more than happy to, Lord Ragna."

From atop his horse, Ragna looked over all his generals, then nodded once. "You all know what you've got to do. Do it well." He faced Lecheng, and rolled his neck and shoulders, cracking a few joints in the process. "Let's roll!"

Some minutes later, Ragna and Kan'u stood only a stone's throw away from the gates to Lecheng; Cerberus was standing next to Ragna, looking around with calm snorts and shakes of his mane. There was no sign of Kouchuu yet, but it was only a matter of time. There was no sense in being nervous about it; it would happen when it happened.

However, the quiet moment finally gave Kan'u a chance to ask something that she had been wondering about for a while. "Lord Ragna," she said, raising her head to look at him.

Ragna turned to look at her with an arched eyebrow. "What's up, Aisha?"

Kan'u bit her lip, and looked away from him for a moment, then steeled herself. "I want to know why you got so upset about Sousou claiming that I belonged to her when we were in the anti-Toutaku alliance. I've seen you upset before, but never like that, and I want to understand why." Her brows furrowed slightly as the worry grew. "If you don't want to tell me, then I won't force you to, but it's been bothering me for a while. I've seen you upset, but never so upset that your...Azure Grimoire...did what it did on that day. I know you said it wasn't my duty to listen to your complaints, but if your health is in danger, I want to know."

Ragna's placid expression never quite changed, but Kan'u feared that it was simply masking his true feelings. However, when he spoke, his voice was genuinely calm, almost gentle. "Let's just say that I understand what it means to be treated as a 'thing.' Let's also just say that I refuse to let that indignity get forced on anyone else. Ever."

The answer was restrained, and was not quite an answer, but it would do for now. Kan'u quietly nodded her acceptance, then turned her attention forward, as a single woman accompanied by a group of En soldiers stepped forward.

She was fairly tall, with cold, calm blue eyes and long purple hair that cascaded down her back in waves. She wore a high-collared purple dress with white cherry blossom accents, with a cut that exposed her not-insignificant cleavage, as well as a green mantle that wrapped around her arms like sleeves; the former was trimmed with gold along the hem, and the latter was trimmed in white. Her legs were covered with dark purple stockings that left her upper calves bare, and she wore dark pink heels on her feet. A beaded ornament dangled from a strand of hair on the left side of her face, while a thick bunch of feathers emerged from behind her left ear. She held a silver bow in her left hand, and her right was covered by a green bracer that extended up to just below the crook of her elbow.

Ragna let out a low whistle, and raised his voice to address her directly. "Yo! Are you Kanshou Kouchuu by any chance, miss?"

The casual way he addressed her made the woman pause and stare quizzically at him, while Kan'u closed her eyes and let out a quiet groan.

"I am," the woman replied. "And you would be the Messenger of Heaven, Ragna of Zhuo, correct?"

Ragna nodded. "Yeah, that's right. We got your message, and really, considering that the ink hasn't even dried on our trade agreement I'd rather not do this." He spread his hands out and gave her a meaningful glance. "That said, if you're serious about keeping us out, here's how it'll work. You take on Kan'u, and if you beat her, you take on me. If you win, well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it? If you lose, though, the city's ours, and we take care of Enshou. Sounds good to you?"

Kouchuu nodded, rather gracefully recovering from her surprise. "I accept those terms."

Kan'u stepped forward, and Ragna reached a hand out to squeeze her shoulder. She looked back at him, and he smiled. "Be careful. I know she's going to be fighting for real, but I need you to make it look good for the goon squad behind her. She didn't deserve to get caught up in this bullshit and neither did her kid."

His touch and his smile only made Kan'u's confidence soar, but she hid it behind her serious, stoic mask and her firm nod. "You can count on me, Lord Ragna." She turned forward to Kouchuu again, and took a stance, tilting the head of her Green Dragon Blade toward the ground and grasping the rear of the shaft with her right hand. "Now, Kanshou Kouchuu. Face the Black-Haired War God, Unchou Kan'u!"

Kouchuu slowly raised her bow, and her right hand inched toward the back of her head. "I will not lose, Kan'u. I refuse to lose."

Kan'u shifted her feet slightly as Kouchuu pulled and strung an arrow with such speed that even Ragna had trouble seeing the movement. Then, she loosed it, Kan'u stepped to the side to evade it—and two more arrows went flying straight at Kan'u's head and stomach. With a shout, Kan'u swatted them aside, darted inward to strike—and was pleasantly surprised to see Kouchuu dance out of the way of her thrust, before striking her with a right-handed backhand.

Half of the pain came from the bracer Kouchuu was wearing, while the other half came from the corded muscle that filled both of Kouchuu's arms and a good part of her body. Kan'u chided herself as she stumbled back and touched her lip to see if it had been split by Kouchuu's attack. Any fighter worthy of their weapon would know that archers had the body strength to handle themselves up close; to get the distance that they needed for most shots, the draw weight of the bows they used left them with much more developed arm muscles than most people would assume they had.

It's only one strike, Aisha, she told herself. You're not out of the game yet. Just concentrate. Concentrate...

More arrows flew through the air, and Kan'u bit back several choice curses as she moved to evade them.

Rinrin, I had better not be a human pincushion by the time you find Chou'un and save Kouchuu's daughter, or I will come back from the dead to haunt you for the rest of your life.

Right as Chouhi rounded a corner within Lecheng, emerging out onto one of the main streets, she sneezed and nearly dropped her Viper Spear. Wrinkling her nose in annoyance, she looked around with a flat frown on her face. "Someone was making fun of me," she muttered, rubbing her nose. "...oh, whatever. I've gotta find Chou'un and save Kouchuu's daughter before big bro and big sis have to get in a fight! But this place is so big I don't even know where I'm gonna start looking."

"You could try behind you, for starters," a cool female voice replied. Chouhi jumped and swiveled around; sure enough, Chou'un was standing behind her, weapon in hand and an impish smile at the ready. Her white outfit was exactly the same as it had been during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, down to the butterfly patterns on her billowing white sleeves and the strange white ornament on her head.

"Whoa! Don't do that, Chou'un! You scared me half to death!" Chouhi shouted. She adjusted her belts, just to make sure they wouldn't fall off, then looked up at Chou'un, all business again. "Anyway, we got your message. Big bro wants you to help me find Kouchuu's daughter so we can take her away from Enshou's soldiers!"

"I know, dear; I was standing right here while you were mumbling to yourself like a madwoman," Chou'un replied bluntly, causing Chouhi to give her an annoyed stare. "Luckily for us, Enshou's soldiers are rather stupid and pretty much gave away their position to anyone paying even a little bit of attention." She pointed down the street to another alleyway and smirked. "They've been running in and out of there for the last twenty minutes. Let's move quietly down there and cut them down, then take the girl straight to Kouchuu afterward. If they try to hurt her on our way out of the city, we can stop them easily."

Chouhi's momentary irritation with Chou'un disappeared after that, and she nodded eagerly. "Then let's go, Chou'un!"

Chou'un chuckled with a sly smile on her face. "Call me Sei, Chouhi. I think that we will be working together a lot more from now on, so we don't need to stand on ceremony."

"So you're gonna take big bro's offer!" Chouhi said, beaming broadly. "That's great! I was hoping you'd come back and join us sometime!"

"It's either him, Sousou, or Sonken, and frankly speaking, I much prefer Lord Ragna's company to either of those two," Chou'un replied, sauntering down the street with the same smile. "He's a very intriguing man, and very entertaining too."

"He is," Chouhi said, falling into step behind Chou'un. "He's kind of stupid sometimes, but we all help him out when he gets like that. He's the best big brother ever!"

Ragna's nose twitched, but he managed to pinch his nostrils shut before the sneeze came out. If it had, Kan'u would've been distracted enough to take one of Kouchuu's arrows directly to her throat, and he'd rather that not be on his conscience.

Really, even though he was keeping quiet, Kan'u was barely managing to keep pace with Kouchuu. Dodging arrows was one matter, but when they were being shot at the speed and pace that Kouchuu was using, it was quite another matter. Things were only made harder by the fact that Kouchuu was easily a match at close range, even though Kan'u had the advantage of reach with her weapon; blocks were easy for Kouchuu thanks to her bracer, which also made counterattacks stronger and all the more painful.

I might be able to take her, but it'd be hard not to hurt her accidentally, Ragna thought. Aisha's doing a pretty good job as it is, but if this goes on too long I think she might screw up, and then...

The simple thought of one of Kouchuu's arrows piercing Kan'u's throat made Ragna want to retch, but he pursed his lips and focused on Kan'u dodging Kouchuu's shots. Some perverse part of him noted that they were both moving with a grace and fluidity that went just a bit beyond "pretty", but he did his best to ignore it, and focus more on hoping that Kan'u would not be hurt.

Thankfully for Ragna's sanity, Chouhi and Chou'un had made the breakthrough they needed to proceed. With catlike tread, the two girls advanced into the alleyway, coming to a stop in front of a dilapidated two-story building with boarded-up windows and two guards posted at the door. Chouhi distracted them by throwing a rock past them, then assaulted the hapless En soldiers the moment they turned to face the rock.

Chou'un kicked down the door with her foot not long afterward, then took a moment to sidestep an En soldier by the doorway before smacking the hapless man in the face with the butt of her spear. This turned out to be quite the prudent decision, as a young girl waddled out of the shadows. Her short hair was the same lavender shade as Kouchuu's, tied into two small pigtails with purple ribbons. She wore a pink, flower-marked shirt with wide, white cuffs, a short purple skirt, white socks, and pink shoes. Even her blue eyes were the same color as Kouchuu's, but they were watery and frightened as she gazed up at Chouhi and Chou'un.

"Who are you two?" she whispered, trying to hold back a whimper.

"I'm Chouhi," Chouhi said, grinning. She pointed to Chou'un. "The creepy-looking sis over here is Chou'un."

Shortly after that, Chou'un idly rapped the back of her hand against the back of Chouhi's head, raising a nice lump and forcing Chouhi's head down a good couple of inches. Ignoring the girl's squeal of pain, Chou'un sighed and put a hand on her hip. "At any rate, we are here to take you back to your mother, child. Enshou's stupid little schemes have made an enemy of the worst possible person, and he isn't happy about what happened to you." She smiled. "What's your name?"

"Riri," the girl said. "Will you really take me to see Mommy?"

Chou'un nodded, then reached out to pat the girl on the head. "Yes, we will. I promise it. Now, put on a big brave face. We're going to march straight out of those gates and keep you safe."

Ten minutes later, Chouhi, Chou'un, and Riri left Lecheng together, leaving right through the front gates. This put them in a prime position to come up behind the small group of soldiers that were watching Kouchuu and Kan'u fight.

Shortly after they emerged from the city gates, Chou'un spun her spear around a few times and cut through every single one of them with one strike apiece; none of them had a chance to turn around before they fell over dead. Chou'un then announced herself in a loud, clear voice that carried far and wide. "Riri, the daughter of Kanshou Kouchuu, has been freed from the tyranny of Honshou Enshou's army by the will of Ragna of Zhuo! There is no need for any of the armies to fight!"

Kan'u dodged Kouchuu's last arrow as the announcement rang over the fields, while Kouchuu herself stopped cold, nearly dropping her bow in shock as she turned to face Chouhi and Chou'un. "Riri," she whispered. "Riri, is that you?"

The girl completely lost the fight to hold herself back, and ran straight to Kouchuu with loud, sobbing wails. "Mommy! Mommy!"

Kouchuu's stone face faded into a tender smile, and she bent down to hug Riri tightly, as if she would never let the girl go again. Ragna felt the last bits of tenseness from Kan'u and Kouchuu's fight fade away, and allowed himself a slight smile as he ran a hand through his wild white hair. Kan'u, too, relaxed herself, allowing her Green Dragon Blade to lower.

"Well, Rinrin, I gotta admit, you did good," Ragna said. "Got the kid out safe, picked up a new general for our wonderful little army, and gave that goddamn moron Enshou the finger all at once." He saw Kan'u fidget from the corner of his eye, and nodded in her direction. "You too, Aisha. Come on, now, did you really need me to say it? If I'd been trying to dodge those, I would've gotten hit ten times over. You looked great out there."

Chouhi grinned and laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "Just doing what you told me to, big bro."

Kan'u's radiant blush and gentle smile, though, really caught Ragna's attention. For a few moments, he felt as if he were watching her dance past those arrows once more, spinning and twirling in slow motion.

While he did that, Kouchuu looked up with curious eyes and a slight tilt of the head, focusing on Ragna. "What is going on here? Would someone mind explaining?"

Ragna blinked and cleared away that odd feeling, then folded his arms as Kouchuu stood and patted Riri's head absently yet gently. "It's pretty simple. Chou'un there—"here, he pointed to Chou'un, who pouted and made a "who, me?" sound—"told us that that jackass Enshou kidnapped your kid. So, Aisha and I decided to help cover for you while that midget Rinrin over there got into the city and helped Chou'un get your kid to safety. After that, well, they decided to just take the direct route and bring her to you."

"Big bro, I'm a growing girl, not a midget!" Chouhi said, folding her arms. "But, yeah, it's just like big bro said. Riri's a brave girl, Kouchuu—super brave. She's going to grow up strong!"

Kouchuu nodded slowly, then shifted her gaze from Chouhi to Ragna. When she looked at him for a little longer, she smiled gently, and her naturally narrow eyes crinkled a little more, but she didn't say anything. Ragna made a particular effort to ignore the sudden heat in his face and chest, and he turned away, looking at Lecheng. "Anyway, Chou'un, did you find anything out about where the hell that idiot Enshou went to?"

"She left the city before you sent Chouhi in," Chou'un replied, straightening her skirt. "It turns out she only left a small detachment of soldiers to monitor Kouchuu. If we hurry and pass through Lecheng, we can probably catch up with her and put an end to this nonsense."

At this point, Kousonsan and the others rode up to see what was going on, and Ragna arched an eyebrow. "Hold up a second. You said 'we'? Does that mean what I think it means?"

Chou'un nodded and smiled, cupping her mouth between her curled index finger and her thumb. "I'm joining you, my lord. It's as I said to little Chouhi...my choices are you, Gi, and Go, and quite frankly I'd rather not mess around with either of those two—Sousou's attitude disgusts me, and while I like Sonken's attitude, I'm thinking that she'll be taking a step back in the net big conflict." She laughed, and gave Ragna a sly glance. "So, I'd much rather work with you."

Ragna grunted and nodded. "Welcome aboard, Shiryuu."

Chou'un shook her head and smiled a little wider. "Call me Sei, please. You're being too formal, Lord Ragna."

"The hell are you telling me that while calling me 'Lord'?" Ragna replied, grimacing. "Anyway... it's good to have you with us. Welcome to Zhuo, Sei." He stretched his neck muscles out, then turned to Kousonsan and the newcomers. "All right. We saved Kouchuu's kid, and Shiryuu Chou'un's coming on board."

Chou'un nodded and waved teasingly at the newcomers; Kousonsan smiled wryly and folded her arms, while Kayuu rolled her eyes, and Bachou and Batai both nodded shortly.

"That said, let's get our asses in gear," Ragna said. "I want Enshou kneeling in front of me and my horse in the next three hours. We need to be out of here and back in Xizang before that bitch Sousou decides to try something." He then turned his attention to Kouchuu and Riri. "Sorry for the disturbance, Kouchuu. We're gonna be passing through right quick and it'll be like we were never here. If you wanna break the trade agreement, at least give us till the end of the month..."

"If anything, I'd rather expand it now," Kouchuu said, and Ragna felt a slight shiver in his bones at how low and soothing her voice was. "You saved my daughter and saved my city. I owe you a debt that is far greater than anything I could repay." Her smile was radiant, almost heart-melting. "Both I and this city are now yours, Ragna of Zhuo."

Ragna, Chouhi, and Riri blinked.

Kan'u, Bachou, Houtou, and Batai flushed.

Kayuu and Kousonsan both sighed.

"...oh, hell, you're serious," Ragna said, studying her face. "God damn it." He briefly considered the merits of debating it with her, but decided that it'd be worthless—he'd been here long enough to know that people took matters of honor seriously around here.

Well, at least she's hot, Ragna's libido said.

Ragna's response to that was to punch his libido in the face and throw it off a mental cliff. Aloud, he said, "Fine. Welcome aboard. We'll come back and get you after we beat the crap out of Enshou."

Kouchuu's voice took on a hint of steel. "I am coming with you, Lord Ragna, to pursue Enshou and back to Xizang. Please, leave someone else in charge of Lecheng. That brat had the nerve to lay hands on my daughter and forcibly stationed soldiers in your city. I refuse to allow those insults to stand." Her face grew soft and her eyes lowered as she stroked Riri's head again, but she soon enough looked back up at Ragna with that same soft, sultry smile. "As it was, that trade deal needed to be renegotiated soon, and I would have likely pushed for these conditions. I would have done this eventually; Enshou just forced my hand to get it done sooner rather than later. Anyone with sense has heard about what happened in Ryousei, and anyone with sense will ally themselves with you, Go, or Gi to avoid being swallowed whole."

Ragna scratched his head and sighed. "I guess that's true enough, so far as the whole Go and Gi thing is concerned. Anyway, I get what you're getting at. You win, Kouchuu. Welcome aboard."

Kouchuu gently shook her head. "Shion. All of you, please, call me Shion. We're a family now." She looked toward the horizon, past Lecheng. "Now, shall we have some fun with Enshou?"

Kayuu swung her Adamant Axe and grinned ferociously. "Hell yes! Lady, I like you already!"

Some hours later

Jizhou province

Enshou huffed and panted on the back of her horse, taking occasional glances over her shoulder with a wide grimace. With most of her forces gone and no more trump cards, her only hope now was to escape.

"Damned Bunshuu, damned Ganryou, damned Kouchuu and Ragna and the entire blasted entirety of Zhuo!" Enshou shouted. "How the hell did I lose to that miserable, no-good, insufferable upstart? Damn it all!"

As the horse sweated and huffed, Enshou kept her mind focused forward as best she could. She'd have to get back to Nanpi first, then she'd have to hold out for a few reinforcements to come from Enjutsu's cities. Once that was done, she'd elect two new generals and storm Youzhou by force—no deception, no madness, just a straight-out charge.

Enshou's hands creaked and crunched. "No matter what, I will absolutely make them pay," she whispered. "I'll kill them all. Every single one of them!"

Then, it began.

Three of the soldiers riding around her pitched forward, backward, and all around, hanging by both, one, or no stirrups. Shocked, Enshou brought the horse to a stop and turned around, then went deadly pale. The entirety of Ragna's army was following in her wake, and at their head, riding beside Ragna himself, was Kanshou Kouchuu, fitting an arrow to her bow, and Unchou Kan'u, brandishing her Green Dragon Blade with a roaring shout.

"No, no, no, no, no," Enshou moaned. "Why are you here, damn you all? Why are you here!?"

Kouchuu fired another arrow, and the shot killed another soldier, striking him dead on the nape of his neck. With an angry shout, Enshou hopped off of her horse, brandished her sword, and began to run straight at them, abandoning all reason in her rush to attack. Ragna patted Cerberus's flank, and the horse came to a smooth stop. Without hesitating, Ragna pulled his feet free of the stirrups, leaped from the horse, and ran forward like a freight train to meet her.

"Go to hell, you damned dirty shit-eating commoner!" Enshou screamed. "Your insolence is beyond aggravating!"

Ragna's response was loud, short, and no less aggravated. "Oh, shut the hell up, you god damn idiot!"

When they were within reach of each other, Enshou swung down. Ragna unsheathed Blood-Scythe and swung it upward while maintaining his reverse grip, shattering her weapon instantly. He spun and sheathed it not long afterward, then punched Enshou dead in the face, knocking her back and down to the ground in one shot.

The moment she hit the ground, she was out cold.

Ragna grabbed her by the collar of her armor, then shifted her to rest on his shoulder. He sauntered back over to Cerberus, who kicked an approaching En soldier in the head, then patted Cerberus's flank. The horse knelt down, and once Ragna was in and secure, Cerberus stood back up and trotted back toward where they'd come from.

Every En soldier that they passed on the way there dropped their weapons and surrendered without a second word the moment they saw her unconscious body laid over the back of his shoulder.

A few minutes later

Once the En soldiers were either bound up or had fled, Ragna and his generals met up in a circle; Ragna in particular was leaning gently against Cerberus while the others stood up. The sun was slowly sinking in the west, and orange began to creep through the sky.

"So, what's the deal?" Ragna asked, shifting his folding arms a few times. "We got the queen idiot and her dumbass toadies knocked out cold, we took barely any casualties, and we haven't heard any word of that bitch Sousou poking around anywhere. I'd like to go home and get to sleep in a bed sometime soon."

"We press on," Kan'u said simply. "Lord Ragna, we've defeated their army and we're about a day's march from Nanpi. By now there should be no one left there to defend it, or at least not anyone worth more than ten seconds in a fight. We march on Nanpi, defeat them, and end it."

Kouchuu and Chou'un nodded, as did Kayuu and Kousonsan. Chouhi and Batai shrugged, while Bachou seemed mildly uneasy.

"To be honest," Bachou said, "I'd rather not risk it. Sousou might use that extra day to get ahead of us and start to invade." Her furrowed brow loosened slightly, but her expression remained carefully neutral. "However, Lord Ragna, if you'd rather go forward, I'm behind you. All the way."

Ragna surveyed everyone's faces, then looked down at the brim of Houtou's broad-brimmed hat. "And what do you think, Hinari?"

Houtou wrung her hands together, then took her hat off and stared up earnestly, with her pigtails blowing back in a slight wind that picked up. "We should do it, Lord Ragna. This is our moment to secure a foothold for our upcoming battles."

That uncharacteristically bold statement from Houtou settled it for him, and he nodded, looking in the direction that Enshou had been escaping to. The still-blowing wind ruffled his hair, making it look like a cloud of flickering white flame as he continued to lean against Cerberus. "Then let's seize the moment."

The next day, at eight in the morning, Ragna and his army marched straight through the gates of the city of Nanpi, in Jizhou province.

All the soldiers that tried to stop him got punched in the face and out of the way, and his generals followed behind him like second shadows, never speaking a single word.

This continued until Ragna used his foot to kick in the doors to the palace himself, marching through the hallways and up the red-carpeted stairs to stand in front of the ornate gold and wood throne that past heads of the En family had ruled the city from.

At the moment, Kourou Enjutsu, Enshou's cousin and de facto ruler of the En kingdom in Enshou's absence, was sitting on that throne. Ragna's upper lip witched in slight annoyance; Enjutsu was little more than a small child wearing an orange dress, with detached sleeves and a purple scarf around her waist. A purple bow was tied in the back of her blonde, semi-curly hair, and a small crown was set on her head. Her loyal aide Choukun stood at her side, wearing an immaculate white and blue suit jacket and a dark red skirt, as well as a dark blue cravat around her neck. Her short, dark-blue hair was held back by a pair of silver hair clips.

As fitting a member of the En family, Enjutsu paid no attention to the dangerous scowl on Ragna's face and the darkening on his brow; instead, she mouthed off and said something stupid to him. "And just who are you to come marching in here in broad daylight?"

Ragna's response to this was pretty calm for him. He crossed the distance between the two of them and slammed his sword into the floor. Choukun immediately began to walk toward Ragna, drawing her sword to intercept him, but Ragna's response was to grab her sword hand and twist firmly, forcing her to drop the weapon. Without even bothering to look, he kicked her sword out of the way, and pushed her to the side, letting her land with a painful grunt.

With Choukou out of the way, he loomed over Enjutsu, staring at her with his mismatched eyes. "Ragna the Bloodedge, lord of Xizang and leader of the Zhuo province, otherwise called the Messenger of Heaven. Also, the guy that just kicked the shit out of—and captured—your stupid older cousin and her two flunkies. Now, we can do this two ways. One, you shut up and give me the city. Two, I take it from you. Either way, the five of you are going to be working in my castle as maids, because unlike the generals I got from Luoyang, none of you have any real worth as fighters." He let out a hard breath through his nose. "I would at least try to be nicer about this, but as you might've guessed by now, your cousin's pissed me off, and being away from home for so long has pretty much killed my very thin patience. So what'll it be?"

Enjutsu seemed stupefied into silence by his words, but when he finished, she stared up at him with defiance in her small body and her childish face. "Do you think that I'd be willing to surrender so easily? Fool! The En family isn't cowed by childish threats from stupid peasant upstarts!"

Ragna sighed, then let off a straight punch toward the throne. His fist impacted the back of it, right above Enjutsu's head. Moments later, the entire thing collapsed, causing Enjutsu to fall flat on her butt. With a gasp of pain, she looked up at Ragna with fear dawning on her face. "What!? What the...?"

"You know, I nearly killed the last blonde-haired shrimp that pissed me off," Ragna said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Luckily for your continued health, you haven't gotten as bad as her, but if you keep pushing it, you'll get to see what a minute in hell is like. Now. Are you going to keep pushing your luck like Sousou did and get the punishment I promised her, or are you going to shut the hell up and surrender the city to me?"

The mention of Sousou's name had an unexpected, but welcome effect on Enjutsu. Precocious as it was, Enjutsu had a bit of admiration for the ruler of Gi, and could tell that Ragna's statement was absolute truth. If he had enough nerve to threaten Sousou directly, then he had enough nerve to carry out any threats he made against anyone else. And she was defenseless now. Completely so. Her only vassal was easily defeated by Ragna, and he could probably split her head in half like a rotten melon with only one punch. The fact that he was choosing not to meant a lot in and of itself.

Enjutsu swallowed the knot in her throat and bowed her head. "F-Fine! The city's yours. The kingdom, too. Just...stop it."

Ragna sighed, then dropped his fist from the place where he held it above Enjutsu's head. He spun on his heel and pulled Blood-Scythe out of the ground, then sheathed it and flicked his wrists. "Good. Hinari, send word back to Xizang. Tell Yue and Ei that they've got another five maids to train, and that we've got all of En under our control now." He scratched his head, then looked back at a smiling Kouchuu, and a chuckling Chou'un. "And let Shuri know that we need a governor for both Lecheng and Nanpi—sooner rather than later." He turned back around and looked at Enjutsu with his right eye closed. "Now—food, horses, and a place to get a shower. I want all of those for me and everyone here. Where can I get them and how quickly?"

Choukun got to her feet, then stared at the powdered remains of the En throne. After a moment, she nodded slowly. "I'd be more than happy to assist you with that, Lord Ragna," she said, forcing a smile onto her face. You insufferable bastard, you're almost as bad as Lady Miu, but I suppose I'll just have to accept it.

Ragna's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he stared at her. "You've gotta learn how to fake your smiles better. You're trying so hard I can tell you're trying to bullshit me. If you don't like me, you might as well be open about it like Kayuu is. Bullshitting around just makes things tedious as hell."

Choukun blinked, then scowled at being figured out so easily; Kayuu sighed, but managed a small smirk and folded her arms. "Jackass."

The line between cleverness and cowardice is thin and easily crossed. There are times where a desperate strategy will win you victory, and times where it will be so insulting that your enemies will make you pay for that strategy with blood.

Proverb 9: The Line Between Cleverness and Cowardice is Thin and Easily Crossed

Here's to hoping that you all had happy holidays. This chapter kind of wrote itself so I just decided to knock it out. I recently finished up an old one-shot in the process so I'll be releasing it alongside this chapter.

Next up will be the third interlude, which will then be followed up by the fourth act of the story. I'll be taking the next couple of days to review the upcoming arcs to continue twisting the story round to my pleasure.

For a bit of fun, I'll share a little supplementary exercise I thought of while writing this chapter. This time out it'll cover all the generals of Ragna's faction. Note that the ages are all creative decisions on my part and should only be counted as official for this story and not the actual KM material.

Also, just because someone's interested in Ragna or someone else doesn't mean that their wishes will still be granted.

Dramatis Personae: Ragna's Faction

Unchou Kan'u (Aisha)

Age: 21-22

Relationship status with Ragna: Romantic. Probably.

Yokutoku Chouhi (Rinrin)

Age: 13 or 14

Relationship status with Ragna: Like a little sister, from start to finish.

Koumei Shoukatsuryou (Shuri)

Age: 13 or 14

Relationship status with Ragna: Crushing kind of hard.

Shigen Houtou (Hinari)

Age: 12 or 13

Relationship status with Ragna: Crushing kind of hard, but is a little more intimidated by Ragna than Shuri is so it might be tougher for her to admit it.

Gentoku Ryuubi (Touka)

Age: 18 or 19

Relationship status with Ragna: She respects him, but she's kind of scared of him too. A little less scared than she was the first time, but still kind of scared. If they get a good private moment then they might get past that awkward state.

Kayuu (Shiina)

Age: 22-24

Relationship status with Ragna: One part respect, one part open scorn. At least some of it is a put-on nowadays, but if you try to get her to admit it, she'll probably split you like a log.

Bun'en Chouryou (Shia)

Age: 22-24

Relationship status with Ragna: A respectful accord between warriors. In all honesty she's probably more interested in Kan'u anyway.

Housen Ryofu (Ren)

Age: 16-18

Relationship status with Ragna: Goof-off buddies. Probably. ;V

Koudai Chinkyuu (Nenene)

Age: 11 or 12

Relationship status with Ragna: Ragna picked up another goddamn little sister, except not the Chouhi kind, but the tsundere little sister kind. Kayuu may say otherwise but Chinkyuu's the one most likely to smack around Ragna for doing something dumb.

Chuuei Toutaku (Yue, also called Yuna)

Age: 15-17

Relationship status with Ragna: Much to Kaku's displeasure, she's kind of into Ragna a little bit. OK, maybe more than a little bit. :V

Bunwa Kaku (Ei, also called Houmei)

Age: 15-17

Relationship status with Ragna: Frenemies. Ragna makes a lot of these. I gotta be honest with you.

Hakukei Kousonsan (Pairen)

Age: 22 or 23

Relationship status with Ragna: Good friends. Someone that Ragna can really respect as an equal, and the only general that calls Ragna by his name straight-up.

Mouki Bachou (Sui)

Age: 20-22

Relationship status with Ragna: Give 'em some time to actually get to know each other. Right now all there is the kind of generic respect between a boss and a subordinate.

Batai (Tanpopo)

Age: Actually 13

Relationship status with Ragna: What a precocious crush! Ragna's face launched a dozen ships. Most of which will sink like stones. :V

Kanshou Kouchuu (Shion)

Age: 30-32

Relationship status with Ragna: My goodness, his libido's burnin' hot now. So is hers, to be fair. Kouchuu is into men that sort of exude that cool aura.

Riri

Age: Probably 6

Relationship status with Ragna: BIG BROTHERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Shiryuu Chou'un (Sei)

Age: 22-24

Relationship status with Ragna: Give 'em a minute to get to get to know each other. But knowing her? There's going to be a lot of teasing because that's the terrible kind of person that Chou'un is.

Anyway, next up, as I said, is Interlude 3. It'll touch on a few things here and there, but mostly set up the next arc. Since I'll probably not make it in time, I'll wish you guys a happy new year. Reflect well on 2013, and enjoy both this chapter and my new one-shot, "Fighters, Heaven, and Earth".

Till next time.

~ZS

(re-edited 2-11-2014)