Disclaimer: as it always has been from the start...
So I changed my mind! I'm now CONTINUING Secret Rose! I just thought that I could really add more to it so I'm challenging myself. The chapters will be a bit short as they have done in this fic, but short is sweet, right:)
Chapter 6- Brand New Start
Sun Shang Xiang yawned and stretched as she opened her eyes allowing the light to filter through. It was a bright day- a little too bright. It was then she noticed that she wasn't inside her comfortable castle bedroom, but outside lying on a boat deck. Also there was a muscular arm wrapped around her side. She opened her eyelids even more to take a proper look. The skin of the arm was tanned a lovely light golden shade, and it was also decorated with tattoos of dragons, serpents, and various Chinese characters. As soon as she fit all of these different components in her head she remembered last night and how it had ended. She smiled when she remembered the initial chase for her secret admirer, the confession of hidden feelings, and then her reward at the end of it all- a kiss from the man she loved. Shang Xiang then tilted her head over and looked at Gan Ning who had his arm around her. He was still sleeping peacefully, the sun shining onto his body beneath the ship sail and the gentle morning breeze sweeping through his hair. Shang sat up moving his arm which caused him to stir a little. He yawned and stretched, opened his eyes and sat up next to her. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. Then, at that moment, he leant over to kiss her cheek. He then gave her a quick kiss on the lips as if to say 'good morning'. (Shang Xiang knew he wasn't much of a morning person so she got the message!)
"Good morning Shang Xiang," Ning said as he wrapped his arms around her. Shang Xiang cuddled him back. "Did you sleep well?"
Shang Xiang nodded and kissed him back. "I had a very nice sleep! Even nicer than usual thanks to a certain presence next to me…" She gazed into Ning's eyes, and he brushed some of her loose hair from out of her face.
"And I wonder who that could be?" he inquired quite cheekily. He laughed and then kissed her forehead. He noticed that Shang was now blushing pink, so he gave her a hug. Inside his heart was jumping everywhere, and it was the Wu princess that was making it do so. The ex-pirate was in love and no one knew yet. The pair had slept outside after spending all night talking to each other, and eventually becoming so tired that they fell asleep in each others arms. Thankfully it hadn't been a cold night otherwise Sun Jian would've surely hunted Gan Ning down for letting his only daughter sleep in the cold!
Ning had been worried about that and Sun Jian too. If Jian found out about the development in his and Shang Xiang's relationship what would happen? Jian was protective of Shang Xiang and everyone in Wu knew that. Ning knew that he already had the Tiger of Jiang Dong's trust otherwise he wouldn't have been a high ranking general in the army, and he lived inside the castle with the other generals so Jian obviously trusted Ning for that, but Shang Xiang was a different matter. She was a person, and a very special person at that. Jian didn't even trust her own brothers with her in the fear that they'd lose her in Jian Ye- that had happened once when she was a child and they had to send out a search party, but luckily she was found safe and unharmed in a tavern where a local had found her wandering in the woods! To everyone's knowledge Sun Ce and Sun Quan were still being punished for it!
"Do you think everyone will ask questions if we go in now?" Shang Xiang asked as she hugged Ning. She looked up at him from where she was. "What if they find out straight away?"
"Do you want them to know straight away?" he replied. "I mean, we can always keep it secret for a bit, but I'm sure you've had enough of secrets since last night…"
"I know… but you know me. I like to keep some things to myself for a bit. Besides, this secret will be fun to keep…"
Ning raised his brow. "How d'ya mean?"
She giggled. "We'd have to sneak around to get some time alone together, and I could tease the Qiaos about my 'secret love'. They've been trying to find me a man for so long, but now I finally have one…" Before Ning could even reply to that Shang Xiang had attached her lips to his and was kissing him with the full amount of love she felt for him. Maybe it was the morning that was making her feel like that- she honestly had no idea. Whatever it was she didn't want it to stop. This was a feeling she intended to keep…
