Coughing Lion Hidden Dragon III
by F4 girl
A week passes. Wufei walks into the training hall and he sees Nataku jumps high up in the air with the lion head. There are 7 scarecrows on the ground and Nataku manages to knocks all of them down in minutes.
"You have improved greatly in a short period of time." Wufei says to his bride.
"I got a cool teacher."
"I am sorry I am late. I should have been here to practice with you."
"Stop being so nice to me! I can see how busy you are. You like some tea?"
"That will be wonderful." Wufei says and sits down. Nataku gets him tea and Wufei takes a sip. He is very tired and the caffeine feels great inside his body.
Wufei feels Nataku's hand rubbing his sore shoulders. "There is no need for you to bring me tea and give me message. I know you loathe these womanly duties." Wufei says to her.
"I don't mind. I hated it before only because I was forced to do it." Nataku says. She enjoys having physical contact with Wufei.
"Thank you, my lady." Wufei closes his eyes and relaxes his exhausted body.
"Wufei, are you just being nice to me cause your parents picked me?"
The young master opens his eyes, "There is no need to doubt my devotion toward you."
"But don't you want a wife who listen to you and doesn't do martial art?"
"A man with wise words does not need to force people to listen to him. You will listen to me if I speak no wrong." Wufei says, "and you are a very gifted martial artist. There is not reason to waste your talent."
"Really?"
"You managed to kick me while holding the lion head first night you tried. It takes most men a week of practice to touch me if they are holding onto the lion head. I will be a fool if I stop your martial art training."
"You're a fool, Wufei. Any sane man will kick me out of the house if I'm his wife. I'm lucky to have you." Nataku takes a deep breath and gather her courage, "my husband, I love you!"
Nataku can feel her heart pounding. This is the first time she calls Wufei her husband and tells him she loves him. She wonders what Wufei will think of her bold behavior. Wufei doesn't say a word.
"Wufei?" Nataku looks at the boy and sees that he has fallen asleep.
"How can an eagle hear a little sparrow?" says Nataku, referencing to an old Chinese folklore. Once there was a little sparrow that fell in love with an eagle. The sparrow tried to tell the eagle how she felt, but the eagle was too high up in the sky and couldn't hear what the sparrow said.
"Good night, Wufei." Nataku sighs and puts a blanket on him.
^__^ ^__^ ^__^ ^__^ ^__^
On the New Year day, everyone in the Cheung Mansion gets up early to prepare for the lion dance and dragon dance competition. Nataku follows Wufei and the others to the harbor.
"Welcome, all masters. This year the dragons will battle at the harbor while the lions fight on the ship." The competition committee announces. Nataku looks up at the ship and sees the prize money for the lions hanging on top of the ship post.
"You have to climb all the way up there?" Nataku asks worried.
"It is not as difficult as it looks, it's only about 50 feet. We climbed to that height a before." Wufei says.
One of Wufei's men gets behind Wufei. Wufei asks him, "Are you ready, Bai?"
Bai answers, "yes, master Cheung."
(note: During the lion dance fight, the lion is made of two people. The master holds the lion head and another martial artist follow the him to be the lion 'body' to back up the master during the fight.)
Hundreds of people show up to watch the lions and dragons fight. Loud explosions of fire crackers resonance the air. The dragons start fighting at the harbor, while the lions begin fighting their way up to the ship. Bai tries to join in the fight when he sees Wufei just stands there.
"Master Cheung, is anything the matter?" Bai asks.
"It's the private! Get the woman and children away!" Wufei shouts. Nataku looks out the ocean and sees a black ship approaching at top speed. The privates fire their cannons toward the people in the harbor.
"Run!" Nataku shouts. She leads the women, children and old people away to safety.
"You like my fire crackers? I come to join the party!" The private laughs. 2 black dragons charge down from private ship and attack the other dragons on the harbor. 3 black lions jump onto the prize ship and starts dancing.
"They are challenging us." Wufei says. The other lions run up to attack the black lions, but the black lions fight them off and drop them into the sea.
"How can they be so good?" Bai asks. Wufei answers, "They are cheating. There are armors under their clothes."
Wufei's lion joins in the fight. All the other lions loose and the gold lion is the only one that manages to fight it way up the prize ship. Suddenly, Bai falls down. The privates wounded Bai's leg during the fight.
"Little boy, do yourself a favor and surrender. This match is over." The private says to Wufei.
"This fight is far from the ending." Wufei answers. He turns to Bai and says, "you did a good job. Go and tend to your wound."
"Yes, master. I'm sorry." Bai says.
Wufei then shouts, "My lady, will you come here, please?"
TBC…