Zhao Yun: Phantom Koinu could not make it here today on account of an unfortunate summer-feaver. As a result, I will be reciting the disclaimer. (Ahem) Phantom Koinu does not own any character used in this story, nor does she own any part of Dynasty Warriors. Dynasty Warriors is the soul property of Koei and... that other gaming company.

(Muffled sounds coming from the closet)

Zhao Yun: . And, uh- that being said, I'll go untie Koinu now- I mean... give her penicillin! (scrambles off)

--Chpt 3. "Something Big Just Happened."--

It was about 6:30pm when Zhen Ji and Sun Shang Xiang sprang up the stairs of the female Dorm building to the third and last floor. As they padded down the carpeted hall, their eyes darted back and forth- searching for the room labeled 55. It didn't take them long to find it.

"Xiao? Da? Are you in?" Zhen tapped on the door, and it was instantly opened by an enthusiastic Xiao Qiao, apparently having forgotten about her fatigue.

"Oh my god!" Xiao shrieked, "Sun Shang! What happened?"

Sun Shang Xiang was sporting a large shiner, the result of an elbow to the eye in a basketball game. "Black eye," she said simply, "Lu Bu plays rough."

Xiao took a moment to think this over before standing aside and letting Zhen Ji slip past her. Sun Shang pushed her way into the room, greeted Da, and settled on a window sill.

The room was very... decorated. Oil-pastel pictures adorned the walls, and (on what was apparently Xiao's side of the room) a few snaps of Zhou. The two small beds were dressed with rather elaborate blankets, and they had painted the back-boards to depict lilly-pads and cherry trees.

"How pretty," remarked Sun Shang half-sarcastically from her perch.

Da laughed and rolled her eyes, but Xiao didn't seem to notice the sarcasm in Sun Shang's tone. "Thanks!" she chirped, and hopped onto her bed.

Da patted the bed beside her, and Zhen sat down. "I'm glad you came," Da said, "But um, Sun Shang? Do you want a hot compress for that eye?"

Sun Shang laughed and shook her head. "No, it's okay." She was used to it, after all. This wasn't her first time.

Xiao giggled, and looked past Sun Shang out the window. "I really want to sneak out the window and go see Zhou-ie." She said.

"Yeah, good luck climbing down 3 stories," said Sun Shang.

Nodding, Da added "And even if you did somehow, you know he rooms with Zhang He."

Zhen perked up a bit, "Really? Poor thing..."

Xiao broke in with, "Zhou-ie says it's not that bad. I mean- aside from the constant combing the hair stuff."

Zhen nodded mildly, and faintly chuckled, "You know how the science lab blew up last Thursday?"

"No..." Sun Shang turned away from the window, "When did that happen?"

"Well, actually... it didn't really blow up..." Zhen corrected herself, "But Zhang He and I were experiment partners, and he mixed the wrong chemicals... or, he put in too much magnesium and then..." Zhen paused as the room began to tinkle with laughter from all four of the girls. "Yeah- so he messed up the experiment and it made a toxic gas or something. The teacher made us evacuate the room."

Sun Shang had nearly fallen from the window sill with laughter, Da's shoulders were quivering, and Xiao had toppled over backwards on her bed, overcome by a multitude of giggling. Even Zhen laughed.

"Oh god... that's so sad," Xiao managed between breaths. "But I can see Zhang He doing something like that."

Sun Shang smirked away her last chuckles, "So... why didn't you stop him?"

Zhen shrugged, "I was sharpening my pencil." She shook her head, "Not my fault he's an idiot."

Da smiled, "Okay now, let's not be too hard on him. You all know he gets enough hell as it is."

The four girls quieted a bit, and for a moment there was a silence. After a moment it was shattered by Xiao. "Sun Shang," she chimed in, "Look at my schedule, I want to see if I have any free periods with you." She scrambled over to her book-bag and opened it.

"Okay," Sun Shang shrugged.

"Hey... what's this?" Xiao noticed a small piece of paper protruding from the pages of her history book and tugged it out. A moment later she squealed, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at it. It read-

Give this to your sister, it's my cell-phone number.

1-(818)-555-4239

-Sun Ce

"Ohmigosh, ohmigosh! Da, Da- it's for you!" Squeaked Xiao.

"For me?" Da blinked and then slowly reached for the paper. All four of the girls surrounded her as she read it. There was a very long pause before Da looked up again. "Xiao..." she said after a moment, "You aren't just playing a trick on me, are you?"

Xiao gaped. "Are you kidding me!? Does that look like my writing."

Da gazed down at the paper a while longer, and then a large grin conquered her face. "Oh my... I bet I'm so red right now!" She was too. A light blush had crept across her cheeks. "Wow! I'm so excited! Augh... but my phone's dead!"

Her cell-phone was plugged into the wall nearby, charging. Da sighed, and then giggled, "It's okay, though. I'm too nervous anyways."

"No! Oh my god- no you aren't!" Xiao seemed to be the most excited of the four of them, and proceeded to make a frantic struggled through a small, yellow purse until she produced a folding cell-phone. "Call," she demanded.

"Uh- I'm freaking out..." Da punched in the numbers and raised it to her ear. The three other girls unconsciously formed a small pack around her, and Xiao seemed convinced that both she and her sister could listen to the phone at the same time.

After a moment, Da held up a finger for silence. "Hello? Sun Ce?" Da gave the thumbs-up and Xiao dove onto the bed with an excited squeak.

Da continued as the others looked on in silence. "Yeah, I got it... no, that's okay- don't worry. So, um, heh... what did you want?" A lengthy pause as Da nodded into the phone. "Really? Well... yeah, I guess I have, huh?" She was the color of a strawberry, "No! Okay... he he... yeah. Oh my go- I'm kinda embarrassed." Now there was a very, very long pause, during which Da froze and took on a kind of distant look. Then- "Yeah, sorry. I'm still here." She listened for a moment and then she did a kind of twirl in place which made Sun Shang place a hand over her own mouth to keep from laughing.

Da smiled blissfully, "Yes, sure... okay... goodnight." As she hung up, her face brightened. She turned towards her expectant company.

Xiao sprang up and hugged her sister as Da said: "You guys, something big just happened."