Chapter 11

Author's Note: An update! Amazing! How many years has it been now? As this fic started back when DW3 was the latest update, Koei keeps throwing moi curveballs with characterization, so don't flame me for inconsistencies that have to do with its progression please (why is Da not even in DW6?) But anyway, although I've felt like dumping this thing in the trash a billion times, I owe this to those of you who've kept emailing and reminding me about an update. Here goes nothing!

The morning and approximately five hours passed before he came across it. Zhou Yu wasn't sure if it was due to his sudden bout of exhaustion or if it was simply pure irritation of the mess that finally got to him, but he found himself in the training room attempting with the greatest self-restraint to keep himself from burning the whole hut down. Another general whom he hadn't seen for a while, Taishi Ci, had asked him if he would train a few of his subordinates as a test of endurance, and so Yu had walked calmly to the area designated for weapon storage to be greeted with a rather large mess. He did not open his mouth, but his footsteps were enough to echo his annoyance for many a ways away.

Yu took a deep breath, then leaned down, picking up a few of the fallen weapons and beginning to arrange them.

"Now who in their right mind would leave this place like this," he muttered to himself as he worked along. "Nevermind that, why didn't they simply clean it up afterwards?"

He paused when he heard a noise behind him but didn't bother to turn as Taishi Ci spoke. "What happened here?!"

"That's what I'd like to know," Yu said dryly. "Someone must have been having fun at our expense."

"Here, let me help you."

The two men painstakingly managed to rebuild the height of the weapon storage structure after quite some time. Taishi Ci looked sheepish after the endeavor. "Wonder if my men are still on standby." he commented.

Zhou Yu was slowly regaining his composure, tossing his head slightly. He crossed his arms after glancing around the room. "Well." he muttered, then graciously cleared his throat to try and remove the traces of anger from it. "Well." he tried again. This time he seemed to speak passively enough for himself and so continued, "This is interesting."

The other man looked toward him, his thick eyebrow raised. Zhou Yu glanced him over a bit, noting the masculine structure of his face. He was not particularly close to Ci, so he was slightly more cautious when speaking with him. Ci on the other hand seemed not to pay that any attention and treated him with the same friendliness that he seemed to grant his closest allies. "Interesting? What about?"

Yu let a faint frown cross his face. "My training sword is the only thing that's missing here."

Taishi Ci blinked in silence, then started to walk around the area, tipping a few things here and there to confirm. Once he was satisfied that the man was indeed telling the truth, Ci seemed to slump down. "Now who would have misplaced something like that?"

Zhou Yu was not about to let his temper flare up in front of this man and so studied the area carefully as he pondered. Sending Taishi Ci off to tell his men to take a small break, Yu finally leaned against one of the walls. Slowly, his gaze lifted to the top of the pile and a thought dawned on him.

:Wasn't Xiao Qiao's training fan up at the top there?:

His quick mind did not fail him in conjuring up a possible scenario which was not far from the truth. He shook his head. :It couldn't be that she would...:

:No, she couldn't possibly carry my sword anywhere without someone seeing her... right?:

The man turned a half second before someone else entered, his familiar ponytail shaking like a horse's tail. Yu decided it was a good time to excuse himself from the area and was about to scoot past Ling Tong, when the latter whistled, a strange smirk on his face.

"Cleaning duty?" he commented, making Yu spin around to look at him.

Zhou Yu eyed the other man carefully. Obviously he knew about the mess beforehand, so that would also mean that he was someone who hadn't bothered to clean up. Yu swept his hand through the air with a graceful yet irritated motion. "Were you the one who made that fine mess here in the morning?"

"Nope," Tong stated with a shrug. He was reaching for a training polearm for some reason or another. His nunchakus were still dangling from his pocket. "Sorry to disappoint you."

Yu frowned faintly enough that he knew that Tong wouldn't notice. He then turned back to start walking away when Tong called out,

"That doesn't mean I didn't see who did it though."

Zhou Yu paused once more, not turning around this time. "By all means, do not keep me in suspense."

"Hah," the other man said, apparently relishing his moment of glory. Yu made a mental note to be especially hard on this man's training regimen for a good week. "I thought your little girlfriend would have told you about her accident already."

Zhou Yu's expression darkened. He did not bother to hide it, as he still had his back to Tong anyway, but when he looked down he saw he had begun to clench his hand as well. He released it immediately.

"Oh. That's right. She wasn't your girlfriend yet, huh?"

Yu had to hand it to Ling Tong that he really knew how to push people's buttons. Yu curtly took a few more steps, then called out casually, "Thank you for your information," before stalking down the hallway.

At first he was not sure why he was so angry, and calmly attempted to collect himself. Seeing him angry was definitely going to make the younger Qiao run faster and further away from him, he reminded himself as he headed toward her area of the camp.

--

Da Qiao nervously fixed her hair in her mirror, twisting it into complex braids and adding her trademark clips to her pigtails. She still had a few hours before she was to visit her lord's room, but that did not stop her from being anxious. She still had to fix up dinner with a few others and she doubted she would have much time in between dinner and her visit to adequately make herself presentable. She flinched a bit when she thought she heard a knock on her door, but it was across the hallway. For some reason she imagined her little sister barging into the room, her side ponytail swaying as she happily relayed all of the events of the day to her. The elder Qiao sighed softly to herself. It would still be quite a while before she would be able to see her sister once more. Da was always trying to keep her sister out of trouble in the sidelines, but when she was not even in the same camp, it was near impossible to do so. With the close watch of Zhou Yu, of course, she doubted that anything could possibly happen to Xiao, but that did not stop her from missing her younger half.

Da suddenly noticed that it was getting dark, and if she did not hurry, she would be late for dinner preparations. She hastily leapt from her seat, slipping out of her room and hurrying toward the main dining room.

From afar, she could see Sun Quan and Lu Xun traveling through the corridor, the former carrying a large stack of papers. Xun looked sheepish, his eyes darting back and forth, which instantly made Da be on the lookout for a certain Wu princess. To her slight surprise, Sun Shang Xiang was nowhere to be found. The young woman was just about scurrying past the two men when she felt one of her hairpins slip.

"Oh!" she turned instantly, leaning down to pick it up.

Sun Quan was passing her at this moment, and she noticed him stop in his tracks when she winced involuntarily, her arm recoiling slightly as she tried to pick up the offending pin. She held back an "ouch!" but she knew she couldn't hide the flash of pain that rushed through her expression. She looked to her palm and sure enough there was a thin line of red. She had not noticed how sharp her hair accessories were. Suddenly remembering Quan and Xun's presences, Da looked up, grabbing her injured hand and giving them her serene smile. "Good afternoon," she commented. Judging by the look on Quan's face, he had not missed her wince.

"Are you alright?" Quan asked, handing off the papers to Xun so he could step forward.

Da Qiao nodded a bit. The two were cordial to each other, mostly due to him being Ce's brother, but she had to admit she rarely spoke with him. He was fumbling for something in his pocket, and she saw it was a handkerchief by its corner long before he managed to pull it completely out.

The young woman took the kerchief graciously, along with Quan's feeble attempt to wrap it around her hand. She would have to fix it later, she decided. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Lu Xun was having a little trouble holding onto the stack of papers, and she stepped back a bit, trying to allow for Quan to see this as well. The youngest Sun did, and he grabbed the papers back from Xun, who glanced at Da with what looked like a grateful expression.

"Thank you very much, my lord," Da Qiao spoke, her voice rich and feminine. She thought she saw Quan's face turn a dash brighter and dismissed it as an illusion of lighting. It was not that she was unused to men noticing her beauty, but it simply was awkward to be seen as an object of femininity to her love's younger brother.

Outside was completely dark by now and she felt a surge of urgency. Quan did not seem to get her hints of hurrying, so she turned toward Lu Xun, trying to portray this in her expression without breaking out of her calm exterior.

--

Lu Xun immediately noticed Da's dilemma and turned toward Quan, nodding faintly. "Well, we will be on our way now," he stated, looking at the other man for affirmation.

"Yes," Sun Quan said at last. He shuffled a few papers around and Xun stepped forward.

"Are you sure you don't need me to carry half?" he tried as he watched the young woman scurry off toward the dining room.

"No, no, I'm fine. You still need to get some rest."

Xun lowered his gaze. He not only felt incredibly guilty toward his companion, but also ashamed. "I'm sure I can help a little..."

His meek request was denied almost immediately and he sighed inwardly as he was escorted by Quan back to his room. Sun Quan had arranged a meeting with Xun earlier that day to discuss a few of the ideas he had had while he was reading through his paperwork, and Lu Xun was already exhausted with that alone. However much he wished to make himself useful, he knew it was still too early in his recovering to be of much use.

They reached his room soon enough and Sun Quan left him there, saying "Why don't you try to spar with someone to get your strength back up? It might clear your head too. And don't forget to get a lot of sleep."

The young man took a seat on his bed, glancing around his room. He wanted to write, but his mind felt too fuzzy for him to do so. He knew it was already a whole day that he had been up after his unexpected collapse, and in his mind it was a whole day wasted. Deciding finally that Sun Quan might be right, Xun picked up his training sabers and headed out.

Gan Ning was the first person he found in the training area. As Gan Ning was a decent sparring partner, that was alright in Xun's books, but there was just one problem. Instead of actually sparring or training on his own, Ning was drinking a bit and sharing laughter with a certain Wu princess. As far as Xun could tell, she had apparently gotten there not much before Xun himself. She was still standing and rocking back and forth on her feet, while Ning was seated next to his training sword. Shang Xiang was carrying a bow and arrow. Xun wondered if she was going to try target practicing along with her normal training.

His mind was murky but under the cloudiness, he knew it was telling him that he did not want to interrupt their cheery conversation with his presence, especially when he was feeling so down. He turned, but a little too late.

"Hey, Lu Xun!" Gan Ning called out, his voice slightly slurred.

Lu Xun was going to try and ignore the call, until Ning changed tactics and called out, "Hey! Pinky!"

Xun paused a bit, then turned around, feeling his face burn. "P--Pinky?" he attempted, resignedly walking toward the two.

Sun Shang Xiang slapped Ning on the arm. "Don't make fun of the outfit Xiao made for him!" she chided, and Xun realized what Ning was referring to.

Lu Xun tried to stop it, but his face grew warmer anyway. A long while back, Xiao Qiao had thought it would be somewhat funny if she had someone make Xun an outfit that was all pink. Although Xun himself did not approve of the color swap, it was his friend's idea and so he kept the cursed garb. Only for use in dire circumstances, he remembered vowing himself.

He wondered how Gan Ning had possibly found out about it, and then began really regretting having been passed out for a good long enough time for people to snoop around.

Ning was sweetly unaware of this and just grinned from ear to ear. Lu Xun watched Shang Xiang hit him again and felt something tug at his chest. :Please don't let me jealous of Gan Ning: he urged himself. He knew for sure that the two in front of him were simply good friends, but the thought alone wasn't enough to calm his nerves. He wrote it off in his mind as an effect of his early fever.

--

Sun Shang Xiang wasn't planning on watching the two men's entire duel. It was dark already, and she wasn't even really sure why she had come outside with a bow in her hands. Sure, it was true that she needed target practice, and sure it was true that she needed a breath of fresh air. Then again, it was too dark to do anything productive with her bow, and well, fresh air doesn't quite equal a drunken Gan Ning. Trying to dig deep in her mind, she came to the conclusion that she had just wanted to relieve a little stress. It was just her luck that Ning was still at the training grounds. He was always useful for a joke or two, although sometimes it was at the expense of someone else.

Lu Xun seemed to be having a bad day. He tripped over himself a few times and dropped his sabers a couple times too. Ning didn't fare too much better, probably because he was drinking not too long ago. Shang Xiang watched the two and compared them to a comedy routine in her mind. It wasn't until Lu Xun landed face first in a pile of gravel a few paces away that she stopped them.

"Okay, okay, enough," she announced, clapping her hands above her head. "You're going to hurt yourselves more than help yourselves now."

Shang Xiang watched as the young strategist slowly lifted himself from the floor. His hat had fallen a few paces to his side and she picked it up, walking to him and placing it back on his head. He had his head lowered as he moved to a standing position. Gan Ning was snickering a bit. "You know what?"

Xun tilted his head and Shang Xiang quipped, "What?"

"With all that dirt on his face he reminds me of an Indian."

"...a what?" the young woman blinked a few times.

"Yeah. Looks like he's sporting some face paint, huh?" Ning laughed, and Shang Xiang watched as Xun turned red and started trying to brush his face off.

Although she was trying not to seem rude, Gan Ning's laughter was contagious and the Wu princess found herself cracking a smile as well. She lifted her sleeve a little and put a hand to Lu Xun's shoulder. "Look here," she said quietly so only he could hear her. The young man turned, lifting embarrassed doe-eyes in her direction. Shang Xiang was glad that the lighting was too dim for anyone else to notice her faint blush. She wiped aside the few remaining specks of dust from his face and then turned toward Ning. "Face paint isn't all that bad," she said, trying to deter the laughter. "I think it's kind of cute."

That seemed to provoke the ex-pirate further, and he almost choked as he regained his breath. "Hoo boy!" he exclaimed, clutching his stomach. "I'm dying here!"

Sun Shang Xiang lifted her hand from Xun's shoulder, noticing with embarrassment that she had let it linger there. A slight tinge of warmth still remained for a split second after removing her arm and she folded her arms to attempt to hide the feeling. "Why don't we just leave this drunk behind and go somewhere else," she said with a mock huff. She watched Lu Xun from the corner of her eye, waiting for a reaction. Not surprisingly, his face flushed slightly and Shang Xiang had a sudden urge to say not to get the wrong idea, but that thought quickly reminded her of her brother and she kept it out of her throat. "You need more rest anyway," she added in.

Lu Xun seemed reluctant in his steps, but his voice sounded surprisingly strong when he agreed. "Alright."

--

Xiao Qiao couldn't help but worry when she heard the knock on her door. The all too familiar sound of a certain man's footsteps were coming closer. That also worried her. How and when did she learn the tiny differences between the officer's footsteps? No, that wasn't right. She only learned Zhou Yu's footsteps so she could swiftly escape if she heard them approaching. This time, though, she was trapped in her room.

She could have tried to hide somewhere else, but a lot of time passed, and she figured she'd look even more suspicious if she wasn't in her room like she should be.

The knock was louder now. Yu's voice called through, "Lady Xiao, please open the door."

Xiao felt a shiver run through her spine. His voice was so calm and collected. It sounded almost robotic. Her initial excitement for her prank was wearing out.

"Coming!" she finally exclaimed, making a ruse of rushing to the door and breathing heavily. She slid open the door and Yu bowed his head.

"Do you mind if I come in for a bit?"

"Um, well," she frowned, "Yeah, a little," she finally said, "But that's okay I guess. Come in." she stepped back and let him enter, sliding the door closed behind them.

To her surprise, Zhou Yu's expression did not share the calm and collected bite of his voice. Instead, he simply looked worn out. He gestured at the small table, and Xiao Qiao frowned before thinking to pull up one of her small chairs. He looked strange sitting in one. Or maybe he just looked strange sitting across from her in the tiny chair with the tiny table. She would have giggled in normal circumstances, but he looked so uncharacteristically stressed out that she kept the humor in a corner of her mind far away. She took a seat as well, then attempted to keep small talk.

"Soooo, um, why are you here anyway? You wanna talk about the upcoming training sessions or something?" she shot him her best attempt at an innocent smile, then added in, "You look dead tired, Lord Zhou Yu!"

Almost magically, the stressed look from his face disappeared and Xiao tilted her head. No wonder he was able to keep so calm, she noted, he was just often really good at keeping his expression steady. She looked on curiously as he slowly regained his collected gaze. The moment the transition ended, she flinched involuntarily. Initially he had seemed much more human, but now he was back to being that stoic Zhou Yu who she had not had much high regard for before. Well, not that she really had high regard for him at all now, but yeah. That wasn't the point.

"Would you like to tell me something?" Zhou Yu was asking, his gaze landing hard on hers. She felt a pang of guilt as she saw him focus on her, and then began to panic inside.

:Oh no! He knows!? How could he have found out?:

His eyes looked as if they could read her mind so she shut out as much information as she could possibly contain. "About what?" she said sweetly, clasping her hands in front of her.

First things first, she decided, was that she had to try and get Yu to leave her room. She spoke again, trying to keep her voice steady under his gaze, "I--I don't know what you're talking about."

"My sword," Yu stated calmly. "You haven't seen it?"

Xiao Qiao involuntarily glanced to the side of her room where she had hidden it, double checking if it was visible. It wasn't. She breathed a sigh of relief, then remembered he was still there in front of her and jumped. "Oh! Nope. Nooope. Why would I see that?"

His expression was still serious. She had a sinking feeling that he had caught her. This was quite affirmed when he stated, "According to Ling Tong--"

She cut him off with a huff. "Ugh! I knew that bozo wouldn't be any help! But how would he know that I took your sword?"

Zhou Yu put a hand to his head and Xiao blinked a few times. He sighed. "Ling Tong only told me that you made the mess in the weapon storage."

"Oh."

Xiao felt her face warm. :And I just admitted to taking the sword on my own...WAH WHYYY??:

She watched the man stand up, heading to the exact spot where she had placed it underneath a cloth. He pulled it out and gracefully replaced it at his side. It had taken her quite a bit of exertion to drag it to her room, but he seemed to pick it up effortlessly. Zhou Yu gestured back at the table as if asking permission to sit back down. Dumbly, she nodded, trying to figure out how he could have found the location so easily. Was she so easy to read? No, he was just too good at reading minds. He must be a freak! Look at those eyes, they almost go straight through you, Xiao!

The young woman looked toward his gaze and then blinked in confusion. The normally hard expression had vanished once more from Zhou Yu's face. He leaned back a bit, almost resigned.

"Lady Xiao Qiao," he said.

His eyes closed briefly and he took a deep breath, letting it out as he sat up straight again. This time, although the sign of stress was just a faint twinge, his cool expression was also nowhere to be found. Instead, Zhou Yu appeared like a normal man to her. Albeit a rather beautiful and handsome sort. He repeated her name, quieter this time, and Xiao felt a vague warmth on her cheeks. She hid her face a bit until she felt it was safe enough to look back. "Yeah?" she answered finally.

"Why do you hate me so? What did I ever do to you to deserve this?"

Xiao Qiao watched silently as the man struggled with the words. His face flirted with agony briefly, and the guilt began to grow in the young woman's heart. It made her wonder a bit. Why was it that she actually hated him? Did she actually hate him? Was it just her childish selfishness? Or was it something more?

She opened her mouth, then shut it. Initially she wanted to say she was afraid of him, but she looked at the man before her, and he did not scare her in the least.

--

"Sun Ce!"

Ce jumped as the voice interrupted his thoughts. "Yeah?" he asked casually, crossing his arms and stepping into what his father said was a tiger stance.

Said father was frowning toward him and he glanced around himself, remembering that he was supposed to be listening to his father's conversation.

"I was asking you a question," Jian stated with a sigh.

A couple of the nearby soldiers exchanged amused glances and Sun Ce shot them a look. "Sorry Pops," he said, "I'm just really too tired right now."

Sun Jian looked at his son, and Ce saw some strange light in the older man's eyes. "Sure, sure." Jian finally said, "Why don't you go get some rest in your room for the rest of the night."

"Sure thing, Pops," Sun Ce stated, suddenly renewed. He caught the look of exasperation on his father's face but bounded off before he could get lectured further. Sun Jian had been asking for a briefing of the other campsite but Ce couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary he could have possibly spoken about for more than a day and a half and so kept on zoning out through the conversation. Or at least, that was what he was convincing himself he was doing. In actuality he was just zoning out because of his supposed date with his raven-haired beauty. Granted, he had caught the look on Jian's face, so he had an inkling of doubt that his father believed his excuse, but hey. Whatever works is how it goes! Or so he thought.

Sun Ce took a glance out of the window and noticed that it was already getting later than he had thought. It was pitch black outside and from a ways afar he could see his little sister holding what looked like a mini party with the Wu camp's energetic ex-pirate. Ce lifted his eyebrow. "Shang Xiang," he muttered under his breath, "Are you getting that desperate now that Zhou Yu is gone?"

Ah well, Gan Ning wasn't such a bad guy. He just hoped that the pirate wouldn't get his sister drunk or something. That would be the end of the Wu's camp if it ended up triggering the young woman's temper. With these amused thoughts in his mind, he found himself at his room. He was about to enter it with a false grandiose movement, which was in fact mocking his friend Zhou Yu, when a gruff voice from behind him commented, "Never thought you were the type."

Sun Ce jumped, then spun around to see Zhou Tai, who had just a touch of amusement on his face. Ce sheepishly scratched his head. "Ah, well, I'm not." He couldn't think of a good way to explain what he was doing and instead just kept up his grin. "Shouldn't you get some rest or somethin'? It's getting late."

"Yes, but I'd like to train a bit before."

Sun Ce noticed the sword beside Tai's side. "Ah," he said, still clueless on what to say further.

Zhou Tai raised his eyebrow and suddenly seemed in a hurry to leave. "Goodnight," he said, turning and heading toward the training area.

"Uh, yeah, 'night!" Sun Ce called out, unable to keep from being confused. When Tai was out of earshot he added, "What the heck was that about?"

"I am not sure, my lord," a soft voice answered him, and he did a double take, almost crashing into his door. When he looked to his side, he saw a wide eyed Da Qiao looking up at him. She seemed nervous.

"Oh! I am sorry, my lord!" she immediately said, shaking her head, "If you would rather me come back another day, I can arrange that."

:It's already that time?: he thought to himself, gulping, :My room isn't ready for this!:

"Yes, it is already that time," the elder Qiao said, her eyes still wide.

Sun Ce kicked himself. :I could have sworn I was just thinking to myself!: He cleared his throat and then stepped back a bit. "Er, don't worry about it. Come on in! Though it's kind of messy..."

He let the young woman enter first before walking in afterwards and accessing the damage.

He came to the conclusion that the damage was great. Not only were there random things strewn all around the room, but when he checked himself in the mirror, his ponytail wasn't even straight. With a resigned sigh, he pulled the ribbon out of his hair and pulled his hair back again to fix it. To his surprise, he felt a small hand upon his and glanced to the side to see the young woman resting one hand on his. "This ribbon," she started quietly.

"Yeah," he managed to say, "I've had it for a while now."

He felt a frown cross his face when he noticed a strange kerchief wrapped around Da's hand. "Something happen?" he asked, lifting the offended hand up carefully. Da pulled it aside with a gentle pull.

"No, my lord," she said. "Nothing that you will need to worry about. Your brother kindly gave me this to help me when I pricked my finger this afternoon."

"Quan did?" Sun Ce raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged. "Here, lemme take a look." She timidly offered her hand back.

The wound was small but still faintly bleeding. Ce pulled out a spare bundle of bandages and leaned over to wrap them around her tiny cut. Once he was satisfied, he shot her a grin, which she returned with a smile.

"Here, let me help you." she added in. He assumed she saw his confused expression as she continued, "Your hair."

Da Qiao moved behind him, taking the ribbon from his hand and sweeping his hair up in one swift moment. He moved down to his knees to let her have greater access and she re-tied the ponytail, perfectly centered, in just a few minutes. "There." she sent him a smile that he saw in the mirror.

"Thanks," Ce stated, gently removing her hands from his head so he could turn around. When he was down on his knees and she was standing, they were almost the same height. At least, he could see her on eye level, and he found that she looked so much more beautiful up close than from up above.

They were quiet for what seemed like a long time, both content solely by being in the other's company. Sun Ce finally broke the bonding time with a loud groan of pain. The young woman's eyes widened again and Ce waved his hand sheepishly. "I think my leg just fell asleep."

"...then you should stand back up, my lord," Da said, a twinkle in her eyes. Sun Ce did so, wandering around a few times while feeling like a complete idiot in front of his romantic interest.