It's been some time since I managed to type again. Thank for your reviews and adding this story to your favorites.

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Sima Yi's eldest son, Sima Shi was resting his head on the face of his palm. He was watching his sister do all sorts of weird things and she was mumbling something about a man with freaky wings chasing after her.

"Du Yuqi, is that really necessary?"

Du Yuqi was pushing Sima Shi's tea table against the door and piled it with a lot of Sima Shi's heavy books. "Yes, Elder Brother. All of these are necessary to keep that man away from me!"

Sima Shi straightened himself from his seat. "And who is this… man?"

Du Yuqi finally piled the last book on the top most part of the mountain of items. The door is now completely blocked. "I think his name is General Zhang He," she said, tapping the side of her cheek.

Sima Shi raised an eyebrow. "The very same man who saved you and Gan inside the circus tent?"

Du Yuqi nodded with a big smile on her face. "Yes! That man!"

Sima Shi looked uneasily at his little sister. For one who was hiding away from the eccentric Zhang He, she seems to enjoy the attention she gets from him.

"I recalled from what Mother told me, you used Captain Ai as your vaulting apparatus."

Du Yuqi grinned sheepishly. "Well, if it wasn't for her being there, I would have freaked out and… and… and… who knows what that General Zhang can do to me!"

Sima Shi stood up, "Well, I shall see for myself and decide if that man does have the right to even look at you."

"Hooray Brother Shi!"

"But first," he said, "I want you to return all of these books and tables and chairs to where they should be."

"Aww."

At Xia Pi, Xiahou Dun gave an order to give a clean sweep of the whole castle.

"Sir, what about Lord Cao Cao's order?"

"I don't care about the order. Those Rogues are after something here and I want to find out what it is," Xiahou Dun grunted. "Form groups and move out!"

"Yes sir!"

Xiahou Dun crossed his arms and let out a deep sigh. "This is stupid, cousin," he murmured under his breath. He surveyed the now fixed camp. Not much damage, which is good. Then something else caught his eye, a certain someone was going inside the castle alone.

"Hmph," he grunted. He let his arms fall to his side and followed the lone soldier inside the castle.

Ai Xin thought she must be imagining things again. Yesterday was already bad enough to get lost. But chasing imaginary things?

Seriously, she thought. I must be going mad.

She found herself walking along familiar halls again. It was just only yesterday. Her hand touched the wall to where the message from the Mist Rogues arrived. Out of nowhere, she heard a giggle.

"Who's there?"

She only heard the giggle. "Who's there? Who's there? Who's there?" it echoed.

Ai Xin frowned. "This is not funny. Come out!"

"Come out! Come out! Come out!" the tiny childish voice echoed.

Ai Xin followed the echo to where it sounded the loudest. She turned around the corner and ended up in a hall where the doors are barred with wood. She wondered, why are these barred? Is there something in Xia Pi castle that people do not want to be revealed? While walking down the dark, musty hall, Ai Xin stopped in front of the door at the end. She could barely make out the word on the door's nameplate, signifying who resides in this room, with the layers of dust. She tiptoed and brushed off the dust on the nameplate and it read one family name: Zhang.

"Zhang," she muttered under her breath.

She paused when she heard giggles coming from the inside of the room. She pulled out her sword from its holster. She was about to break into the room when she stopped to think for a moment. Is it possible for someone to be trapped inside this room for years? The doors seemed untouched with the layers of dust as proof.

"There must be a demon inside," she muttered to herself. "Or I must be crazy due to lack of sleep."

"Captain Ai, what are you doing here?" A stern strong voice grunted behind her.

Ai Xin screamed in fright and turned around and swung her blade, coming in contact with a larger more imposing one. "G-General Xiahou!"

"Why are you not with a group?"

"I..." She trailed off.

Xiahou Dun is not going to take silence for an answer. "Answer me."

"It might sound stupid, sir," Ai Xin reluctantly answered. "I followed a little girl here."

Xiahou Dun frowned as they both lowered their blades. He had been hearing rumors from the townspeople here in Xia Pi about seeing a little girl laughing and running around. But whenever one of the townspeople would ask the little girl, the little girl would just laugh and repeat his or her words and run off to the castle.

Ai Xin noticed Xiahou Dun's sudden silence. "Sir, do you know this girl?"

"No, but I have heard of rumors about people seeing a little laughing girl." He looked at Ai Xin and frowned at her expression. "Hrmph. I am not going to do any storytelling."

"But sir, what you might know may be able to help solve this mystery!"

Xiahou Dun frowned, "Fine then." He shuffled his feet a bit then went on with the tale. "I don't know much. But the townspeople said that that little girl used to live in this castle. She had parents, and they said that her father was one of the high ranking officers under Lu Bu. When Wei laid siege on Xia Pi to subdue Lu Bu, one of Jia Xu's plan was to flood the castle and drown the soldiers. The little girl died in the flood."

"That's... sad," Ai Xin said with a small frown. "Then... this little girl must be a ghost?"

"Hmph, I don't believe in such non-"

A giggle echoed.

"Where did that come from?" Xiahou Dun asked.

"It... It came from inside the room."

Xiahou Dun frowned. "As I said, I don't believe in gho-"

He was once again cut off by a giggle.

"Damn it! I am Xiahou Dun and I am not one to be interrupted!" He raised his weapon and in one fell swoop, the barred door shattered and broke.

Dust flew up in the air. Ai Xin closed her eyes and covered her mouth, coughing a bit at the thickness of the dust.

When the dust cleared up, Xiahou Dun was the first to enter the room. "Tch. It's just an ordinary room."

Ai Xin entered after Xiahou Dun. She looked around. The furniture looked very expensive and it was slowly being devoured by dust and time. She found a curtained door and entered it. Inside was another room with a single bed and a stack of scrolls, the walls are draped with curtains that are flowing along with the wind. "There's no little girl here, sir."

Xiahou Dun was looking at the empty weapon holder on the wall. By the shape of it, it looked like it was made for a Dao spear. But what intrigued him is another weapon holder underneath the first one, this one was shaped differently. "Hmph. Clearly that thing just led us to a wild goosechase."

Ai Xin came out of the curtained room. "Sir, it's not nice to call someone dead a thing."

"I told you. I do not believe in ghosts." He paused for some time, in case that giggle dare interrupt him again. "Hmph. See? No more giggles. Now let's go. I still have to listen to reports and have the other doors taken down. Whatever the Mist Rogues are after, it might be in one of the these rooms."

"What do you think they are searching for sir?"

Xiahou Dun shrugged, "Treasure maybe. But as far as I know, Lord Cao Cao has every treasure in this castle taken to the new safehouse in town." He started walking outside. "Let's go Captain."

"Yes sir!"

Ai Xin made her way to the door when her foot stepped onto something. She looked down and picked it up. It was a dusty journal. She blew off some of the dust and opened the cover of the journal. It had one word written at the center of the page: Lan.

"...Who is Lan?" she asked herself.

"Captain! Get a move on!"

Ai Xin closed the journal again and quickly left the room. "Yes sir!"

When no one was left in the room, a little girl appeared from behind the curtained room. She laughed and disappeared.

Zhang He was fixing his newly bought hairclip onto his head. He flicked his hair and twirled in front of the mirror. "Beautifully perfect!" His reflection smiled back to him. "Now, to go look for the lady of my heart!" He skipped out of the room.

Sima Shi sat on the grass, much to his dislike, but his sister made him sit. "Du Yuqi, I feel very stupid wearing this crown of flowers on my head."

Du Yuqi smiled, "But it is beautiful and the color of the flowers matches your eyes."

Sima Shi frowned, "Like I said, I feel stu-"

"Oh my gosh, Shi! Brother! Is that you?"

Sima Shi ran a palm down his face. "Great, now him."

Sima Zhao grinned as he came out to the gardens towards them.

"Brother Zhao!" Du Yuqi greeted the second Sima. "Brother Shi looks good with a crown of flowers on his head right?"

"If it's for the Summer Festival, heck, you can pass off as a woman!" Sima Zhao exclaimed with pure comedic humor.

"Oh, I am so flattered," Sima Shi drawled sarcastically. He dared not pull out the crown of flowers from his head, lest he wants to listen to a lecture from Du Yuqi about taking care of flowers and the likes.

Sima Zhao plopped down to the grass, next to Sima Shi and crossed his legs. "So, what are we all doing here?"

"Brother Shi is going to talk with General Zhang He," Du Yuqi chirped.

"Planning to scare the pants out of the Butterfly General?" Sima Zhao asked.

Sima Shi gave a nod, "You can put it that way."

Du Yuqi smiled. It's been a long since she spent some sibling time with her two brothers. "I miss you guys."

Sima Zhao raised an eyebrow at Du Yuqi, "What are you talking about, Sis? You can practically just see us every day if you want to."

Du Yuqi shook her head, "Not really. Brother Shi is now very busy because he's helping Father and you're busy now that you're married to Lady Yuanji."

Sima Shi said, "She has a point, Zhao."

"Pft. Well, here we are now right? We're just sitting here and enjoying the spring air," Sima Zhao said, gesturing to the open sky.

"Not really my type," Sima Shi said.

"Sheesh Bro, you need to lighten up." Sima Zhao said, giving his older brother a strong pat in the back, knocking the crown of flowers askew.

Suddenly, Du Yuqi smelled the all too familiar overpowering smell. "He's here."

Sima Zhao raised an eyebrow, "Who's here?"

Du Yuqi immediately hid behind Sima Shi when a man leapt high in the sky and landed on the grass with exuding fragrance of flowers and butterflies. "Lady Du Yuqiiiiiiii~!"

Sima Zhao frowned, "That guy."

Zhang He flashed a smile, only to have a cold response from Sima Shi. "Oh... Uhm, am I interrupting a family get-together?"

Sima Shi got up and took the crown of flowers off his head. "Yes, you have interrupted a family get-together, General Zhang He."

Zhang He backed up a bit, but bumped his back on someone behind him. He immediately turned around. "Oh, sorry Lord Sima Zhao, I didn't mean to..."

Sima Zhao flashed his goofy cheerful smile, "I heard you've been stalking my little sister."

Zhang He gulped. He had heard of the what the Sima brothers do to whoever they think is unworthy of their sister. "Well, I was just looking for her."

Sima Shi got up from his position. "Well, good for you, she just told the both of us of how you've chased her all around the castle."

Zhang He swallowed, "Is chasing her a bad thing?"

Sima Zhao chuckled, "It's not necessarily a bad thing." He smiled, "We just don't want to see our sister stressed out."

Du Yuqi peeked discreetly behind her brother's back. She covered her mouth, stifling a light laugh when she saw the scared look on Zhang He's face.

Sima Shi remained calm, "I am pretty sure you have heard of some rumors to those who became her suitors."

"I... I have no idea," Zhang He fibbed.

"Nice try, General Zhang," Sima Shi said. "If you're going to put up a lie, you would have done it better if your legs weren't shaking."

Zhang He took a deep breath. Keep calm Zhang He Junyi. They are just Lady Du Yuqi's brothers. They won't do anything to you.

"So, the next time I hear my sister complain to either one of us," Sima Shi said. He flashed a steely look to Zhang He. "Be ready."

All of Zhang He's attempt to psych himself up bit the dust at the steel look on Sima Shi's face. "Of course, I'll try not to bother your sister. You have my word."

Inside, Sima Shi was glad that Zhang He had cowered at his words. He knew that this beauty-loving man often can stand the reprimands of his father, but no, not Sima Shi!

"Leave us, General Zhang He," Sima Shi said.

Zhang He nodded, "Thank you, Lord Sima." He bowed and left, in a leaping manner. He was relieved that Sima Shi didn't do anything else other than give him an oral restraining order.

Sima Zhao stared a bit aghast at the way Zhang He left them. "Are you sure he is really a guy, Little Sister?"

Du Yuqi crept out behind Sima Shi. "Well, he has what you have right?" She got back to her feet and gave Sima Shi and Sima Zhao a squeezing hug. "Thank you, Big Brothers!"

Sima Zhao smiled, "Awww, it's nothing Du Yuqi. Now, how about we get some mai ya tang?"

Du Yuqi nodded, "You bet!"

Sima Shi coughed, "I'll pass. I still have some work to -" He stopped when he saw the puppy-dog look in Du Yuqi's eyes. "... Oh alright. We will just buy the treat and head back here, alright?"

Du Yuqi nodded, "Of course, Big Brother!" She started walking ahead.

Sima Zhao put both of his hands behind his head as he and Sima Shi started walking behind their little sister. "So, how long do you think General Zhang He will follow the restraining order?"

Sima Shi raised a hand to cover his eyes against the sun. "If my calculations are right, his persisting personality will make him disobey the restraining order in just one day."

Sima Zhao laughed, "Well, I bet he'll have disobeyed your words by tonight."

Sima Shi smirked, for the first time within the day, "Are you betting your month's pay in that?"

"You're on!"

Ai Xin sat on her cot inside her tent. The oil lamp flickering its light inside the canvas shelter. She sipped her tea, leafing through the journal that was sitting on her lap.

She read the first line of the journal.

I have broken my promise to him, by falling in love with the enemy.

I hope you enjoyed.

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