by crystal tiara
Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors; Koei does.
They could've been the perfect love story.
He is the handsome, chivalrous man that makes the girls swoon and sigh---the heroic prince you'd heard of in fairy tales but never knew existed. She, on the other hand, is what legends are made of- a real beauty, if the hearsay was to be believed.
A good-looking prince and a lovely princess. It sounds like your average fairy tale. It's almost too good to be true.
But they are polar opposites in almost every sense. He is calm, composed and almost always serious, while she is bubbly, vivacious and often annoyingly cheerful. He seems to have grown up all too quickly, while she takes the time to enjoy every minute of her life. Sometimes he thinks she's too loud and childish for him and sometimes she thinks that he's too reserved and mature for her.
It's far from being typical love story material.
It's not the glamorous fairy tale that little girls dream of, where the boy and the girl meet, and they fall in love, and they ride into the sunset to live happily ever after.
But together, they can make things happen. They don't have to make everything perfect, but they can create a love story of their own. In which, even if things are unpredictable and their personalities clash, they can stay together and live happily until the end of their days. In which their love can stay strong and not waver no matter how many twists and turns life has in store for them. In which they can love each other, even if they aren't the stereotypical protagonists of love stories.
There are times when she asks him to tell her a story of how they met and how everything began. It's become a pasttime of theirs, and nearly every time he ends their conversation with, "Then you turned my life upside down." And she laughs, bursting out into giggles, because he couldn't have said it better. Little did he know that she felt the same way about him.
Still, no matter how many times he says it, it's a line that never grows old. At least that's how it is for her. He says that he has never met anyone like her, and that he's never known anyone to be so energetic and lively like her. He also says that she's crazy, but it's not to be taken literally. Not insanely crazy, but hilariously crazy. A good kind of "crazy"---that's how he puts it.
"But we're all a little crazy sometimes, aren't we?" he adds. "So I can relate to that."
"We can be crazy together, if you like." They laugh together; their voices resounding as their laughter fills the room.
On some nights there are banquets and celebrations in the palace, and while everyone's busy with their merrymaking, they dance. They dance like there's no tomorrow, like there's no better night to dance, and they go round and round and round. And as they waltz around the room, she talks about love and life. She's spinning round, and she swears her heart is all giddy---whether it's from the sensation of love or just vertigo she doesn't know. But she knows that she loves him, and that he loves her. Two hearts in love for all eternity. It sounded like a line from a romance novel, but it sounded so nice and warm.
At dinner they sit together, like all husbands and wives do. And she holds up a pair of chopsticks and insists on feeding him. She thinks it's cute. He rolls his eyes and says, "Oh please. I'm not a child!", but there's a twinkle in his eye and he's not angry; he's just amused. But she stamps her foot, sticks out her lip and pouts, as if she's throwing a tantrum. He feigns surrender ("You win, Xiao Qiao") and lets her have her own way; she's giggling again. Later on, he tells her that she's got something on her nose, and he wipes it for her, all the while making comments on how cute she looked or something like that.
"We're behaving like teenagers," he comments in a tongue-in-cheek way. "I thought we outgrew that sort of behavior!"
"Of course we haven't. We're still young, aren't we? And besides, you really need to lighten up. When you're too serious, life gets stuffy and boring. There's no fun in that."
He nods. "I guess you're right."
It's funny how her naivete and childlike innocence has rubbed off on him.
It's even funnier how their entire marriage even worked in the first place. No one had ever thought it would happen, considering that it was all arranged, and that she was years younger than he.
Still, they're happily married now, and even if they're not entirely ready for it, they're together. As she puts it, "If we're together, we can do anything...'cause we're strong, right?" Yes. They were strong. They could face anything together. Wasn't that what marriage was all about in the first place?
"When you fall in love, it's forever, isn't it?" she asks.
He's unsure. Since when did he become the expert in romance? He shrugs. "I suppose so."
"Then I'll do just that. I'll spend my whole life with you!" She means those words. If there's one thing he's always loved about her, it's her sincerity. She could be shallow and wasn't the type who'd speak of fancy things and impossible promises as "I'll love you 'til the oceans run dry and the mountains crumble and the world comes to an end" but when she said something, it was heartfelt, and one could be certain that she meant every word.
"So you'll stay with me forever then?" He asks coyly, grinning.
"Forever and ever and ever and ever..."
He puts a hand to her mouth to silence her, but she isn't the least bit upset. He looks at her with a serious expression on his face.
"Inseparable. That's you and me. That's us. And that's how we'll always be."
It's the perfect ending for a love story with a not-so-perfect beginning.
Author's Notes: Yet another one of my fluffy one-shot DW romance fics! For some unknown reason, I've been inspired to write a whole lot of fanfics involving different pairings. But no, I haven't abandoned my absolute favorite pairing, Zhuge Liang x Yue Ying. It's just that I've grown to love some other pairings as well and I wanted to try a hand at writing them. Though I'm not really a fan of the Zhou Yu/Xiao Qiao pairing, I've always wondered about the nature of their relationship, and that's how this fic came to be. Please review!