Author's Note: Hello everyone! Ok, sorry it took awhile to upload this chapter, I've been super busy with STAR testing so I apologize for the delay. I want to thank everyone who left reviews, I LOVE YOU ALL!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors...they own me. LOL.


I opened my eyes the next morning, and saw no one lying next to me. 'That's right, I'm in Shu. Oh, I hope my dear sister isn't feeling too lonely.' I was so used to sleeping with each other and having her wake me up every morning.

"Good morning, Lady Qiao, I hope you rested well." Yue Ying entered the small room where I now slept. My room was adjacent to Yue Ying's, it was a guest bedroom.

"Yes, I was very comfortable and slept well. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Lady Ying." I acknowledged.

"It is nothing, Lady Qiao. Now would you please, you are requested at today's council meeting, it starts in about an hour." She began. "You can take a shower right away, please follow me." She left the guest room and I followed her into the next room, her quarters.

Her room was fairly large, a medium-sized bed was against the wall opposite the door and below the large window. I looked around and saw a large shelf filled with books in one corner, and a large desk with a bunch of paperwork on top, they were a bunch of interesting designs for her new inventions.

She led me across her room to another door that led into the bathroom.

"Please, let me take your clothes. I'll have them washed while you take your shower."

I nodded and disrobed, I gave Yue Ying all my garments, then, I entered the shower and started to wash myself with nice, warm, running water. We had a water system back in Wu, but it was flawed and inefficient. It seems that Shu has a much better water system, anyway.

I thoroughly enjoyed my shower, and I took my time taking it, but when I felt that I was taking too long and that I might be late for the council meeting, I ended it abruptly. I walked out to Yue Ying's room with only a towel around my petite body.

"Ah, you have finished, just in time, too!" Yue Ying said. Well, I was glad I wasn't going to be late.

"Here are your clothes." She handed me my garments, I was surprised that they were so clean and soft and dry. It amazed me, how quick Lady Ying had washed and dried my clothes. I began to dress myself, I first put on my pink bra and panties. I strangely felt comfortable undressing in front of Yue Ying, probably because she too was a woman and I knew that she wouldn't ever harm me. I had to dry out my hair, it was drenched from the shower, that took me the longest to do. Once I did that, I put on my usual outfit. The one I always wear, even in battle.

"Are we all set, Lady Qiao?"

"Just one last thing." I replied as I tried to pin up my hair, I was having trouble since I didn't have a mirror to look into.

When Yue Ying saw me struggle, she giggled, "Here, let me help. There, you look lovely." She stated.

"Thank you, you are too kind, Lady Ying." I smiled.

After that, we left. Yue Ying led me while I followed beside her. When we walked out of her room and down the hall we met up with Xing Cai.

"Good morning, Lady Cai." We greeted and bowed.

"Good morning to you too, Lady Ying and Lady Qiao." She then bowed in return, and joined us as we walked together to the war council room. Shu had a marvelous palace, it wasn't too extravagant, however. Shu mainly focused on the well-being of its people. When I traveled to here, I noticed that the peoples' houses and lifestyles were a lot better than those in Wu. It's how things are supposed to be. Now, I suddenly start to doubt my lord's capability of bringing peace to this land. 'That selfish Quan!' I huffed. 'It's a pity that we are led by such a self-centered, egotistical bastard. Ugh, if only Ce had kept his throne, Wu would have been better off.' I sighed to myself.

"We are here, Lady Qiao." Yue Ying and Xing Cai stopped at a large door at the end of another long hallway. I could hear all the commotion from the other side of the door. They opened the door, and we stepped in.

"Ah, Lady Ying and Lady Cai, I see you have brought our guest of honor." Liu Bei greeted as we walked into the large room. The generals sat at a large, three-piece table that was on the opposite side of where we stood. One side of the table was parallel to the back wall, while another side was parallel to the left wall, and the last side was parallel to the right wall. These pieces were connected forming an upside-down, squared "U" shape. Both Xing Cai and Yue Ying went there separate ways and took their seats at opposite ends of the room. I, however, had no seat so I just stood in the middle of the room.

As soon as Cai and Ying took their seats, Liu Bei began, "Shall we begin then?" The Generals quieted down, and paid full attention to their lord. "Well then, Da Qiao, is it?"

"Y-Yes, my lord!" I immediately bowed and started to get nervous.

"You are a Wu General?" He questioned.

"Y-Yes, my lord!" My head stayed bowed, I didn't dare to disrespect another lord, even if he was an enemy.

"Zhuge Liang tells me that he has seen you on the battlefield, and acknowledges that you are a more than capable officer."

"Y-Your lordship is too kind!" I replied humbly.

"-Then why has Quan offered you, a talented general, to us?"

"I-I'm not exactly sure, my lord, but I think…"

"Please, Lady Qiao, arise and tell us." I heard Zhuge Liang command.

I did as I was told, and looked at Lord Liu Bei.

"W-Well, we were informed that Wu and Wei had successfully won at the battle of Fan Castle, and that they were successful in slaying General Guan Yu…"

"Scum!" an outburst came from a Shu General who sat beside Liu Bei.

It startled me because of the sheer force and power in his voice.

"Please, General Fei, control yourself, it is not her fault that General Yu was slain." Zhuge Liang said.

General Fei settled down after awhile. When Liu Bei finally got himself together, he allowed me to continue.

"We were also told that Wu had captured a Shu General and that he would be Wu's new slave."

"How dishonorable…" A general, who I assumed to be Zhao Yun replied.

"The poor youth." A much older general stated, I think his name was Huang Zhong.

"Bad." Was all Wei Yan said.

"Please, settle down, my generals." Liu Bei commanded.

"T-Then, I finally ran into General Ping when he was being…" I thought about the truth. I was going to say 'when he was being fondeled by General Ning…' but I didn't want to say anything that could disgrace Ping, so I was going to have to lie.

"…when he was being, what?" Liu Bei questioned.

"W-When he was being selected for a master." I sighed inwardly.

"And which master was chosen?"

"L-Lord Lu Xun, my lord."

"-Wu's strategist?" Jiang Wei questioned, in disbelief.

I nodded.

"Prime Minister!" Wei began.

"Yes, I am fully aware of the capabilities of Wu's strategist. This Lu Xun is quite knowledgeable in the art of warfare, and he is still very young, probably around your age, Jiang Wei." Liang remarked.

"Please, my lords!" I interrupted, "I am very close to Lu Xun, he is like a brother to me. He is a kind and caring general who-"

"-who helped plot my brother's downfall!" Zhang Fei spat, enraged.

"-Please, you must understand! Xun didn't want to wage war against Shu! He wanted to maintain our peace with you and forge an alliance together to defeat Wei!" I protested.

"Lies!" Fei rebuked.

"N-No, that's not true!" I began to weep, it made me upset that they didn't believe me.

"-Well I think the lady is telling the truth." A general stated who sat at the table on my left. I looked at him, questioningly. He was seated in between Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. He was wearing a lush-green robe and matching head gear that had a cloth-mask covering his nose and mouth. All I could see were his soft eyes-eyes I couldn't look away from, they were eyes filled with gentle care, sympathy, and compassion-things I desperately needed right now.

"I believe that Lady Qiao is telling the truth as well." I heard Lady Ying say, I was finally able to look away from the general's soft stare and turned to look and smile at Lady Ying.

"I agree with Lady Ying." Lady Cai supported, I turned to look at her as well, and gave her another smile. I was glad that I could rely on some people.

"Tch, why would you support this woman, she is our enemy!" Fei now stood, questioning the three Shu generals.

"General Fei," the mysterious general began, "this woman is not our enemy, Quan is." I was quite impressed at how he was able to keep his composure even after being ridiculed by such an outspoken man. "Not all people from Wu support Quan, I believe that this woman is no exception. Why? Simply because she lacks malice."

"How do you know this?.!"

"General Fei, just look at her, does she look like a person filled with malicious intent?"

General Fei turned to look at me, I looked away from his stare.

When Fei had nothing to refute, the mysterious general continued, "You see, there is no reason to act so ungentleman-like in front of this woman, so please, refrain from losing your temper."

Liu Bei began interrupted. "You still have not answered why Quan would give you up so willingly, General."

"Oh yes, well, when I finally met Ping, I saw that he was just devastated and so lonely. However, I reassured him that Lu Xun would take good care of him and would show him great kindness. No harm had come to Ping, because Lu Xun, his master, would not allow it."

The generals all whispered to each other.

"When we heard news that Shu was attacking us, Xun had decided that it would be best if he was released so that he could be happy here, with his friends and family. Xun then requested that I personally escorted Ping back to Shu, so I did. We first went to Lady Cai."

"-Xing Cai? Why weren't we notified of this?" Liu Bei asked.

"W-Well you see, Ping didn't want to start a commotion, so he thought it was best that we kept his arrival a secret."

"I see…" He pondered for a bit.

"However, Ping realized that upon rushing out to escape, he forgot to bring his Giant Blade with him, he was going to participate in the war, so he insisted that we go back and retrieve his weapon. But as when we returned to Wu, we were captured." It was a lie, but I couldn't tell them the truth-that the real reason Ping wanted to go back was because he had fallen in love with Xun and that he wanted to remain with him.

"-So that's what happened…" Liu Bei stated.

"Yes, my lord. I assume that when we were captured, Lord Quan found out that I had aided Ping, as a result, Lord Quan offered me to you as punishment for my actions."

"Tell us, Lady Qiao," Liu Bei began. "Do you regret doing that? Afterall, you lost your home, your family and friends, all for an enemy general-a mere stranger, and in a sense, you betrayed them. If given the chance, would you take back what you did?"

I was a bit taken aback from the sudden question. I thought about it for awhile. I smiled, "No, I don't regret it at all. I knew that if I had helped the prisoner, I would be punished, probably exhiled, and as you all know, that has come true. But, even though I knew what the consequences were, I still took that risk. Why did I take such a risk? Because I knew that what Quan had done-capturing an enemy general and enslaving him, was wrong. You must understand, not everyone in Wu is as malicious and corrupt as you think, my lord. I do not believe that I betrayed my family, my friends, or my people. The only person I believe I betrayed is Lord Quan and his tyranny. By taking that chance, I gained a valuable friend in the process, and because of that…I wouldn't take it back for the world." I proclaimed proudly.

He thought to himself for awhile, Liang had leaned over to whisper in his ear, Liu Bei nodded, then announced, "Very well then, listen up my generals! I have decided from henceforth, Lady Qiao shall not be treated or acknowledged as a slave, but instead, Lady Qiao shall be treated and acknowledged as…one of us-as a Shu General!"

I was taken aback by his decision, not only me, but most of the other Shu Generals were taken aback as well. Ying and Cai just rejoiced from his decision.

"Very well then, later on this evening, we shall have a feast, a official ceremony, in honor of our newest general, Lady Da Qiao. I look forward in seeing you all there. That is all, you are all dismissed." Liu Bei stood up, all of the generals got up and bowed until he left the room. When he was gone, we started to make our leave as well.

When I got out of the room, I exhaled, glad that the meeting was over. I waited outside in the hall for Ying and Cai. I noticed that one general who had supported me during the meeting come out as well. Ying and Cai had finally caught up to me, but I ran from them in order to catch up to the other general to thank him.

"Sorry, I'll be right back, I have to do something really quick." I waved bye to them, I saw their curious faces turn into smiles.

"-My lord!" I ran up to the taller, cloaked man who was walking away from me.

"Hrm?" He stopped and turned around obliviously. "Ah yes, Lady Da Qiao. How can I help you?"

I bowed, "Please my lord, I must thank you for your kindness earlier." I stood back up, and found myself gazing into his soft eyes yet again.

"Oh that?" He smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Please Lady Qiao, it was nothing at all." He blushed.

"My lord should not be so modest." I smiled.

"Modest, you say?" He chuckled. "I suppose you are right about that." He smiled in return. He thought to himself for awhile, then realized something and spoke, "Ah yes, forgive me for my rudeness, my lady, I don't think I have had the honor of introducing myself." He gave another soft smile.

I giggled, 'How cute.'

"I am General Pang Tong. It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Qiao." He gave a humble bow.

"Please, my lord, call me Da."

"Very well then, Da. You can call me Tong."

"I'm glad to meet you, Tong."

He blushed, "Tell me, Da. Has Lady Ying given you a tour of Shu?"

I thought for awhile, "No, not really. I don't think she's had the time."

"Ah, then I must persuade you to come with me, I shall give you the tour, I am not doing much, and Lady Ying has been so busy lately, it is the least I can do, I'm sure she wouldn't mind to terribly." He suggested.

I thought about it for a minute, I was actually quite thrilled that I could get an opportunity to get to know Tong a bit more.

"I would like that very much." I smiled.

"Then please, if you will." He offered me his right arm, I took it and wrapped my arms around his, and we began to walk, alongside eachother, quite close I might add.

TBC


Author's Note: Hehe! There you have it! It's Pang Tong! Question...was anyone surprised? taken aback even? Hehe. Ok, ok, before you start rambling about why...I just want to let everyone know that I, for one, adore Pang Tong. Yup, I don't care what anyone says, I think he's sooo cool and plus, he kicks ass! He's awesome and he is one of my favorite characters. I think this is a good pairing, and I'm super excited because this pairing will be a major one besides PingxXun. Ok, I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as possible, but I have AP testing coming up really soon so I am going to be studying ALOT for that, but I will do what I can.

Please Review! I would LOVE to here your thoughts, opinions, statements, confessions, etc. Anything! Just review! S'il vous plait. That's French for Please...in case you didn't know. I just thought I'd educate you people and show off my French Language skills. I know, I know, I cease to amaze you people.