Hey everyone. Thanks for reviewing.

.x.original.star.x. : Yes, Sakura is younger than Touya, but later on it says that she pretends to be Touya so that she doesn't have to make up more lies and she can keep her story straight in her head. Sorry for the confusion.

Stephanimegirl : I'm glad you like my story. I tried to stay as far away from Mulan as possible. I put Mulan in the northern border while Sakura and Syaoran are on the eastern one.

Luna Moon Godess : Thanks for stepping away. You can still write your story. I'd want to read it.

Frosted BlossomZ : Yay! You reviewed twice! Thanks!

Youkaigirl64 : You reviewed twice, too! Thanks!

Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to Clamp, Second in Command belongs to Vuong.

Chapter III: An Unscrupulous Challenge

Sakura slept uneasily in her tent. Horrible images of her being discovered and inward fears of her inability to fight plagued her. Rising slightly after the sun rose, Sakura got ready for the day. She wrapped the breathable gauze around her chest and tied it securely. After dressing in a light shirt and pants, she left the tent. Glad that there were no officers around to lecture her for oversleeping and being late, she grabbed a meal of rice porridge. Loud cheers and shouts soon called her attention and she made her way to a circle of men.

At the center two soldiers were gearing for a battle. Sakura rolled her eyes. It was all just a ridiculous bunch of testosterone induced men who worked themselves into a frenzy to find out who the "alpha male" was.

Surprisingly one of the fighters was Li. The other seemed to be an oversized brute. He had probably goaded Li into fighting him, believing Li was weak because he was smaller.

"Always expect the unexpected," Sakura thought. It was a mantra she continually told the younger children in her town. They made her proud trying to exceed her expectations in order to win her praise and she was always caught unawares by their talent and knowledge. Shaking herself away from the past, she turned her attention back to the fight at hand.

Li and the man were circling around sizing each other up. Sakura scoffed out loud. She knew Li was going to win. She felt his calloused palms in the handshake he gave her, which meant many hours of hard work and sword play. The bully on the other hand had a sizable belly, which meant lots of boasts and ales rather than practice. Sakura could see, however, that he had brute strength, which proved formidable in many battles.

Breathing quietly, Li stretched and loosened the muscles in his body out and remembered the teachings of Sun Tzu in The Art of War, the last book his father had given him. He already had succeeded in one point against his opponent: Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

"Yeah he certainly is arrogant," Syaoran thought crossly, watching what he referred to as "the oaf" swagger around, and not even warming up for the fight.

Getting into a swordfight was not on Syaoran's agenda of things-to-do today. He was calmly getting breakfast when a monstrous hand knocked him to the ground.

"Men first, Little One," the oaf bellowed. His cronies, several men of his behemoth size laughed and slapped their knees. Of course Syaoran was not going to take this lying down. He leapt to his feet and shoved himself into his original place in front of the rowdy men. This just earned him another push to the ground. Of course push came to shove and Syaoran found himself challenged to a sword fight.

As soon as someone shouted, "Go!" the larger man lunged forward. He thought that he could end the fight with a quick stab, but he found his sword met only air. "If he is in superior strength, evade him," Syaoran recalled mentally, as he stepped to the side and he rapped his opponent's sword hand with the flat of his blade. Nearly faltering and dropping his sword, the oaf whirled around and stabbed. Again he met only air. Breathing heavily he lunged again and again.

"If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest." Syaoran continued to poke and nag until the oaf grew tired. Seeing his opponent's sword point droop slightly, Syaoran struck lightning quick and knocked the blade out of his hand. Panting, the oaf collapsed to the ground. Syaoran turned his back to pick up his sheath. His defeated opponent had grabbed a hold of his fallen sword and was about to make a cowardly slash against Syaoran's unprotected back when he felt a sword hilt being pushed roughly against his lower back.

"You've entered this battle a tyrant, and lost as a fool. If you wish to be labeled a coward and not only face my wrath, but also your superior officer's, by all means attack," Sakura whispered to him and dug her sword harder into his back to emphasize her point.

Gulping, he laid his sword back on the ground, and slunk off to nurse his injuries.

Several of the men clapped Syaoran on the back as he went to fetch some water. Several questioned Syaoran if he would battle again. He would, Syaoran replied, if any wished to challenge him.

"How about this little runt?" exclaimed one of the oaf's cronies as he pushed Sakura forward. Syaoran frowned slightly when he saw Sakura's trepidation.

"The boy is young, maybe unskilled in swordsmanship," Syaoran thought. He was about to call it off, when he heard Sakura's answer.

"I'll fight," Sakura said in a soft voice.

Several men laughed at hearing this effeminate runt speak. Others began taking bets on how long the fight would last. The times ranged from half a minute to five. Rolling her eyes, Sakura began to stretch.

"Are you sure about this?" Syaoran whispered to her. She nodded quietly. It was the only way to shut them up, she thought.

Standing on opposite ends of the circle of spectators, Syaoran raised his sword.

"Ready?" he called out. An affirmative yes was thrown his way. He was puzzled because her sword was still sheathed but his friend had said to start so he rushed to attack.

"CLANG!" Syaoran's eyes widened in surprised as the smaller fighter's unsheathed sword met his.

"He's fast!" he exclaimed wildly in his head. Springing back he grinned widely. Kinimoto had used the momentum of swinging the sword out of the sheath to counteract his blow. Not only had it stopped his sword's movement but the force of it had numbed his hand temporarily. The other spectators gasped too. Now they stopped taking bets on how long the fight would last, but who would win. The bets were Syaoran with 20 to 1 odds.

Sakura slashed quickly, taking Syaoran by surprise. She smirked and said, "He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared."

"Great, he also knows Sun Tzu," Syaoran thought dryly as he barely managed to block the blow. What followed were a series of attacks and parries which only the quickest eye could discern. Anyone who blinked missed a series of spectacular swings and near-misses.

Syaoran would attack, only to be blocked and met with an attack by his quick opponent.

Sakura struck at the miniscule weak points that she could see. She knew that she was not as strong as Li, but could use his strength against him. This ploy was working at first, but he began to back away and make defensive moves instead.

"He's going to tire me out!" she realized with a gasp.

Quickly devising a plan she took a chance. Attacking her sword directly at his blade, she forced him to make a wide parry to counteract her strike. Taking the opening his sword made, she dashed forward until she was nearly flush with his body and stopped her sword point a hair's breath away from his abdomen. Glancing upward she could see his triumphant grin. She followed his eyes to see that his arms were raised above her, his sword point directly above the space between her shoulder blades on her back.

A giant roar rose from the crowd. "A TIE!" they all shouted.

Sakura could fear the heat from her friend's body and blushing quickly stepped away. She had never been so close to another man before. "Guess I'll have to get use to it," she concluded, "I'll be staying with about one hundred of them."

"Are you okay?" Syaoran questioned her, "Your face is all red."

"It's from the fight," she replied pathetically hoping he would buy her excuse. He nodded and gave her a ladleful of water.

Both of them were met with loud clapping as they headed back towards the mess tent. Glancing up, they noticed their superior officers.

"Wonderful, absolutely fantastic swordplay, you two," they exclaimed. "We could barely follow the action, and to end with a draw! You'll both give the rebels something to worry about." They broke up the ring in order to discern which soldiers were new recruits and which were seasoned veterans.

Their remark brought Sakura back down to reality. They were here to defend their country, not show off their skills. She couldn't help but smile however, when the oaf and his cronies stayed a good two meters away from both she and Li.

"That was a great fight, Li," Sakura complimented him.

"Thanks, you did well too. Did your father teach you?" he asked.

"Of course. He could probably still best me, if not for his leg," Sakura admitted.

Syaoran laughed and replied, "I fear for those who had to fight him. You are a formidable foe, Kinimoto."

Sakura grumbled quietly, embarrassed by all the compliments. "Let's go see what our assignment is today," she said standing up.

The officers had assigned the both of them to work with the newer recruits to teach or hone their sword and fighting skills. As night fell, Sakura, exhausted, crawled back into her tent.

"And so ends my first day…" she murmured quietly as she fell into dreamless sleep.

As always, Please review,
Grignard