Ultimate ThreeKingdoms Parody by Adrasteia Rebirth

Chapter IV

Throbbing pain.

That was the first thing that he was aware of. Just basically pain that echoed off from an epicenter which seemed to come from his head. But the waves that it sent even reached to the muscles in his legs- which were extremely sore for some reason.

The next thing that he was vaguely aware of is the darkness. No, his eyes were closed. So he was sleeping-? But wasn't he supposed to be in a meeting right now? Wait… that damned Adrasteia and that Lu Bu… and that digital camera… then I fainted?.

Ah. His mind finally arranged the events in some sort of logical order by now. The meeting was basically going nowhere, and when it wasn't boring- it was just terrifying. Adrasteia was going to show a yaoi video of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi- but thankfully musoued the DVD player in annoyance before anything more deadly would have occurred… then Zhuge Liang fainted, Sima Yi freaked out, Adrasteia said a bunch of more crazy stuff and Lu Bu became even more cocky than usual to the point that he couldn't stand him any longer. Oh, then the fight… Lu Bu is one hell of a pain in the neck… definite pain…

His still-muddy mind managed to hold out enough to make use of some of his senses. Soft warm covers… so he's probably lying in a bed right now… but he fainted on the floor…

A BED?!?!

He listened carefully to make sure that there wasn't any peaceful breathing right beside him. Zhou Yu heard nothing but he couldn't exactly trust his ears at this state. Gong Jin didn't dare open his eyes yet and prayed to God… Kami-sama… or whoever the hell was out there that he wasn't lying right next to Lu Bu with his clothes stripped off. Heck, he was almost stuck in a similar situation with Zhang He. ALMOST. Thanks to Adrasteia of course.

Then when he finally gathered up all his guts, he opened his eyes.

What greeted him were the familiar fancy bright lights that were of similar fashion from the ones at his condominium. Yep, and they ate up a lot of the electric bill too when he forgot to turn them off.

He groaned and sat up dizzily on his bed. Yes. His bed. So this is really is his condominium.

Zhou Yu stood up and almost lost his footing, but managed to somewhat regain his balance. The feeling that he was experiencing right now is somewhat of an equivalent of a hang over- although he hadn't been drinking too much lately.

It took him most of his concentration and willpower from crashing into the wall. After several minutes of hobbling across his condominium and finally into the kitchen, he opened a bottle of mineral water, poured himself a glass and tried to gulp some of it down his parched throat. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help things much. It just inflamed his throat and sunk into the untouched bile that he felt that was going to rise to his mouth.

Nonetheless, he forced himself to swallow a couple of mouthfuls, promising himself that he would feel better afterwards. And of course, all promises are false.

He glanced at the wide clear windows that filled almost the whole length of the wall- which overlooked the fancy bright lights of the nightlife of Hong Kong. Zhou Yu suddenly got reminded of his wife, who's probably still on a shopping-spree somewhere around there with her sister- Da Qiao. Wait, no. That was 2 weeks ago. They're now in Paris. But still on several shopping sprees, nonetheless. At the rate that she's going at, Zhou Yu hoped that his bank accounts weren't going to be completely drained soon. Xiao Qiao always liked using his accounts and his credit cards as an alternative even though she had her own. He had always complained about this to her. Heh, and she would always say that she wouldn't use his money next time, and next time, and next time… but it never happened.

He couldn't suppress his smile. Despite how annoying Xiao Qiao is at times, she definitely had her good points.

For some reason, being in a sickly state triggers memory flashbacks. He instantly remembered his death, and the darkness that seemed to just loom above him- then slowly come down until he was nonexistent. Inexistence and unawareness of anything remained with him for several centuries until that fateful day…that fateful day…

Zhou Yu finally realized that at the end, there was no heaven or hell. Just simply… reincarnation. Rebirth. But the gap between the lives might be large, he hadn't been reborn until the 20th century as a half- Italian half-Japanese person raised in Japan. His features were Asian enough to not be stared at every time he walked down the streets of his hometown, and European enough to blend in the crowds when he frequently visited Rome. He always had natural dark red hair though, but of course- his Japanese peers would just immediately assume that he dyed it.

For the past 23 years, he had been completely ignorant of his former life. When he read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms book, he did felt sympathetic for the character of Zhou Yu- but he didn't feel anything completely personal. It's just that how some people never learn about their past lives until the trigger… for some people, it's just merely hearing about the achievements of their former selves. But for him, it was looking at Xiao Qiao's reincarnated form. She didn't lose any of her beauty from her previous life, heck- she barely changed. She still frequently annoyed him too. It felt so weird to realize that you were… no, are an important person that played a major role in history. It felt weird to be talking to some of your old peers from those good old days. Xiao Qiao already had a lot of RTK-related connections when he first met her. She had already knew what her past identity was and she had made contact with most of the ex-RTK generals anyway. Unfortunately, they haven't made contact with Sun Ce yet. Or maybe he's just here but he just doesn't remember who he is…

Zhou Yu sighed, missing his sworn brother. Damn, those really were the good old days. Taking most of the southland in one year. People flocked to them, and children with their shining faces. Yep, they were the heroes back then. Until several Shu-ists a couple of decades and centuries later wrote that novel which altered the truth and made him an antagonist.

Gong Jin's sentimental thoughts suddenly got interrupted by Lu Xun's slightly grouchy face- which appeared on the video monitor.

"Yes-?" Zhou Yu said in Mandarin, the default language between him and Lu Xun.

"Komban wa, Zhou Yu-sama," Lu Xun continued in Japanese.

"Good evening to you too, Lu Xun. So any recent news?," Zhou Yu said in Mandarin again. He didn't mind Lu Xun speaking in Japanese because that has been his first language anyway, but he just didn't find much reason why Lu Xun would be speaking in Japanese. Lu Xun's reincarnated form had been born in Shanghai. So he would probably speak a combination of Mandarin and Shanghainese, but why bother with Japanese-?

"Hai, Zhou Yu-sama," Lu Xun said slightly dully and putting a bit of an emphasis on the "sama" part. Zhou Yu winced at this. He knew that Lu Xun wasn't quite fond of the event when they discovered Zhou Yu, since Gong Jin was one of the first pioneering strategists of Wu- Lu Xun had been degraded in rank below Zhou Yu- making Lu Xun an assistant. But it wasn't his decision anyway. He had to admit that Lu Xun is one unexceptional strategist, and he didn't deserve to be something equivalent of a secretary to him. Gong Jin tried to ease some of the tension between them before- even by trying to affectionately call Lu Xun as "little-brother", but Lu Xun didn't seem to take much note of this and proceeded with the much unneeded formalities.

"Continue," Zhou Yu replied, finally giving up and resorting back to Japanese.

"There had been lots of activity in Adrasteia's computer. It seems that she has been hacking into the Koei headquarters and stealing everyone's character designs."

Even though this was not entirely surprising, Zhou Yu asked in a bit of shock "Is mine included?"

"Hai," Lu Xun replied. "Infact, it was your model that was downloaded first, then the next one was Zhang He."

Zhou Yu felt some of his panic rise, but he had sufficient self- control to not to show it. "And for what purposes do you believe this will serve in…?"

"Judging from Adrasteia's moral character, probably for another fan- yaoi CG video."

Zhou Yu groaned. "Do you think we may stop her before anything deadly happens?"

"Yes. It is possible. I'm already working on it now. But it will take me 24 hours"

"Ok, arigatou Lu Xun-san. Contact me in 24 hours then."

"Fine sir." Then Lu Xun's face flicked off the monitor- which returned to it's original black.

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Note from author: Yay. 6:30 something PM. No wonder it's far more detailed than my last couple of ones, and it doesn't seem as pointless O_o I still find that odd because I also did it right at the spot. Anyways, comments? POST YOUR DAMN REVIEWS!!! ((hyper, sorry ^^;)) ((I must do homework now .))