Disclaimer: As before...

A/N- Argh I've been so busy! I try not to neglect my fics... so I've made this chapter a bit longer than usual! I know it's not as humourous as the others but the next one will be:) I've never been in any kind of therapy before so I'm just guessing as to what happens!

Chapter 11- Opening Up

"Do you really think that we should be the ones to do this?"

"Sun Jian asked us to Ning. Besides, how hard could it be?"

Gan Ning walked beside Lu Meng as they made their way to one of the meeting rooms to commence the therapy session. Sun Jian had decided that, out of all of the professionals, Ning and Meng should do it. Jian didn't care that they hadn't done anything like this before. This was an emergency mission and something needed to be resolved as soon as possible. Like a battle, it was one that Sun Jian intended on winning…

"Are they in this room?" Ning moved his head towards a thick wooden door and put his ear to it. He couldn't hear anything… yet. He put his hand on the handle and turned it. He and Meng entered, and were surprised to see Sun Shang Xiang hiding behind Sun Jian while Sun Ce was trying to get her. Sun Quan was looking towards the two generals who had just entered, grateful for the new presence of sanity that was so sorely needed.

"About time!" Quan said as he stood to his feet. "Those two are about to kill each other!" He pointed towards his two siblings.

"I'm not going to kill her," Ce said with a strange tone in his voice. "I just want to teach her a lesson…"

"Help me!" whimpered Shang Xiang as she clung on to her father. Sun Jian wasn't doing anything except for hoping that Ning and Meng could do something to sort out his crazy kids.

After Lu Meng entered the room he closed the door behind him, sighed, and walked over to the table where Ning was already standing. In his hand he held a scroll. "Right," he said loudly. "Everyone- sit down. No arguing, no bickering, no fighting- just SIT."

Sun Jian and Sun Quan sat down on one end of the table, leaving Ce and Shang Xiang glaring at each other. They slowly moved apart from each other and sat opposite each other. They continued giving each other evil stares, resisting the urge to lunge at each other and rip their hair out. Tension was high between them- it was sibling rivalry at it's worst…

"Okay then!" Meng said loudly from the head of the table. He took a seat next to Gan Ning and proceeded unrolling the scroll. "While you guys have been cooling down Ning and I have been thinking of some ideas to get around your problems."

"Hopefully this will help you guys as a family unit and as individuals," added the ex-pirate. "If Wu is to be strong the head family needs to be strong."

"Ning is right," continued Lu Meng. "It's all about strength and working together as a team. So before we get into the serious stuff we're going to spend some time talking…"

"Oh man!" moaned Ce. "There's nothing to talk about! Unless we talk about how much of a brat a certain little sister is…"

"You can talk!" Shang Xiang replied. "I feel sorry for Dad- he has to leave Wu to a jerk!"

"SILENCE!" Jian shouted. He then turned to the two 'counsellors'. "Please continue."

Gan Ning and Lu Meng glanced at each other. This was going to be harder than they thought…

While the counselling session was getting underway Lu Xun and Taishi Ci were sat in the library. They were at the large table and in front of them was a large jug of a water and two cups. Taishi Ci was nursing a massive hangover and he was moaning as his head was started to throb, causing him great pain. Xun was just sitting opposite shaking his head in disapproval at him.

"You see Taishi Ci, that is the reason I don't drink."

"So you've said…" Ci gulped down some water and then rested his head on his arms on the table. "Why won't my headache go away?" he moaned.

Lu Xun snickered. "It's obvious- you drank too much last night."

"I know that! But Ning drank too- why didn't he have as much as I did? Normally that man drinks for China…"

"He probably didn't drink as much as you. I think something was on his mind…"

"Do you know what?" Ci lifted his head up and looked at his sober friend.

"No, but nothing usually affects Ning's drinking. We'll find out though."

"Good," said Taishi Ci, pouring himself another glass of water. "Because I'm not losing my drinking partner!"

Lu Meng stood in the centre of the room by a chair. Around him, in a semi circle of chairs, sat the Sun family as well as Gan Ning. The Suns were confused as to why there was one lone chair just sat in the middle. What was it for?

"Alright guys!" Meng said loudly. "This exercise is just for everyone to open up to each other. That's why we have this chair. You guys are going to take it in turns to sit in the chair and talk about your position in the family. And if you have problems with anyone now's the time to tell them because there's no locking things away here."

Sun Ce raised his hand so Meng nodded, allowing the Little Conqueror to speak. "What if the things we say hurt each other? And you and Ning- can we trust you two?"

"Of course!" replied Lu Meng. "What goes on in this room stays in this room." He put a hand on the chair. "Now who's first?" He watched as the four Suns sat in silence. "Well?" He still got no response. It's a good thing I came prepared for this he thought to himself as he pulled out of his pocket a few pieces of paper. He put them on the chair seat, inked side face down, and chose one of the four at random. "Sun Quan, you're first."

"Oh man…" Sun Quan stood up from his seat and walked over to the chair after Lu Meng had picked up the bits of paper. Quan sat down and looked at the rest of the family. "What do I say?"

"Just talk about any problems you have with any of them, how you feel about the current family situation… whatever you want."

Sun Quan hesitated for a minute before deciding to speak. "Alright then… I'm the middle child so I feel as if I'm in the middle of Ce and Shang Xiang's petty arguments. I know I'm not considered as strong as the other generals but I know there's so much more I can do like strategy and defence. I see myself as the opposite of Ce so I'm not jealous that he's the oldest and one of Wu's leading generals and I'm not jealous that Shang gets more of Dad's attention… I'm happy the way I am." Quan turned his head to Lu Meng. "That's it I guess."

"That was easy enough!" Meng held out 3 pieces of paper to Quan. "You can choose who goes next."

Quan closed his eyes and picked a piece of paper at random. When he had chosen he opened his eyes and read out the name that was on the paper. "Sun Ce."

Ce rolled his eyes and went to the chair as Quan walked back to his original seat. He slumped in the 'confession' chair and sighed. "Can I start?" Meng nodded. "Okay. Well, the arguments aren't 'petty'- I don't exactly start them all. It's just that me and Shang are very similar so we either get along very well or sometimes we just don't. I don't hate her- she's my little sister, of course I don't. It's not like it's serious anyway- I'm just trying to set an example to my younger brother and sister and prove to everyone else that I'm a good general. I may not be as bright as everyone else but I'm still capable of achieving great things. I have a wife and I think I'm growing up. All I want to do is follow in Pops' footsteps and hopefully take over when the time comes and carry on what he started." Ce stood up and walked back to his seat. "And that's my little speech!" He said as he sat back down next to Sun Jian.

Now there were only two Suns remaining- the eldest and the youngest. Sun Jian looked at his daughter who didn't look too enthusiastic about going up to the chair. Jian wanted to go after he had heard what all of his children had to say. He leant over Sun Quan and said to her "Are you going first Shang Xiang?"

Shang Xiang looked at him and nodded. Slowly she walked up to seat and sat in it, with Lu Meng standing right beside her. It did make her feel slightly awkward, being watched by all of them, but it was counselling after all. She had to make the effort…

"I feel… I feel like I'm in a bad position. I'm the youngest and the only female in the Sun family, and it's something I'm constantly reminded of. I know I'm not going to be as strong as my brothers but that doesn't mean I don't try. I hate being in the shadow of them. I know Sun Quan treats me as an equal- in sparring he doesn't purposely go soft on me. But Sun Ce… he doesn't like to admit that his sister is a strong-willed individual. He just wants to see me be married off to someone far away so I can get out of his way." A tear rolled down her cheek. "And you guys are always overprotective of me in battle. It's like you don't trust me or think I'm capable…"

She trailed off and wiped the tear away. Meng handed her a handkerchief which she accepted, thanked him, and went back to her seat next to Sun Quan and Gan Ning. She looked down at the floor to prevent the others from seeing how upset she was, but Quan and Ning had already seen her tears. Quan put his arm around his sister and gave her a small hug. Ce looked past his father and saw that Shang was upset. He honestly had no idea that she felt that way. He always imagined that he was a happy girl, not someone who felt so low, and that he was one of those reasons. Ce stood up and walked to his sister. He got on his knees and looked at her.

"I'm sorry Shang Xiang- I didn't know that I made you feel like that."

"Well you do now," she said quietly, still being hugged by Quan. "Why can't you just be the caring big brother instead of a jerk?"

"I do try…please forgive me Shang? I promise things will change. I just need you to give me another chance. Please?" He waited for Shang's response. After a few seconds Shang wrapped her arms around him and gave him a huge hug.

"All you have to do is be nicer and treat me as an equal," she said mid-hug. "That's all I ask."

Ce quickly nodded- he'd do anything as long as it meant not seeing her cry. Anything but that… seeing Shang Xiang cry was the ultimate punishment.

"So am I forgiven?" he asked just to make sure.

"Yes!" She hugged him again, and everyone in the room clapped. Sun Jian was so proud of his children for acting so adult. Well, they were adults after all so it's what he expected them to do. As they clapped the two siblings hugged and made peace with each other.

After the family moment Sun Ce asked "Does this mean that counselling is over?"

Lu Meng looked to Sun Jian and then to Gan Ning. "Well, we do still have a couple of activities lined up that might help…"

"But we've all made up now! I feel better, and so does Shang Xiang, and there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with Quan…"

"But we've only just started! Counselling takes a long time…what do you think Sun Jian?"

"I think that we may be done for now. Of course if another problem occurs I'll be sure that we proceed with the full course of treatment." He looked at the three smiling Sun siblings. "Hopefully that shouldn't be for a while yet…"

Gan Ning stood up and went over to Lu Meng who just looked confused. "So what do you think?"

"That it was too quick. There'll be problems in the future but let's just hope that they'll be strong enough. They seem strong enough- let's just hope it stays that way."

Ning nodded in agreement as the Sun family became the happy and strong family unit that they always had been. Sun Ce was now giving Sun Shang Xiang a bear hug while Sun Jian and Sun Quan were talking about something that must have been funny because they were both laughing. Ning sighed- he hadn't liked watching Shang cry at all. Part of him wanted to give her a hug and comfort her but he had been relieved that Ce had done the right thing and apologised. One part of him however wanted to punch Sun Ce for being such a jerk towards one of his best friends… if he had been drinking he most certainly would have. No one was going to hurt her again… Gan Ning wanted to make sure of that…