A/N- Sorry sorry sorry for the long wait:P I've been so busy, and I'm going to be busier! I'll try my best to update when I can but please be patient... after June I'll be freed from the strain of exams and free to write fan fiction all summer long! That is, when I'm not glued to DW5... hehe...

Chapter 15: Playing Detective and Dress-Up

The two elder Sun men stood side by side outside the burned kitchen and sighed. Where was Huang Gai? They needed answers to the mystery of the bomb had ended up in the kitchen and exploded, and it felt as if they were detectives, sneaking around the castle in search of clues. Sun Jian couldn't wait until dinner to ask everybody there- if it wasn't Huang Gai then it'd be pretty embarrassing, so he thought he and Ce'd try and find out as fast as they could.

"Where do you think he'll be Pops?" Ce asked his father as he leant against the wall.

"I'm not sure… usually he'd be teaching Shang some martial arts but seeing as she's in her room recovering I'm guessing he'd be in the courtyard training."

"Let's go then!" Ce separated himself from the wall, stood up straight, and started heading towards the direction of the courtyard. He noticed that as he approached the exit door his father was still behind quite a way back. "Pops, are you starting to feel your age?"

Sun Jian quickly shook his head in denial. Of course I'm not feeling like an old man he told himself. I'm as young as I was 20 years ago! "No, I'm just a bit tired son. You know I didn't get much sleep after last night."

"Yeah, sure you didn't…"

Jian shook his head and followed Ce, purposely walking a little bit faster just to prove Sun Ce wrong. He pushed the doors open and allowed for his eldest son to leave first, frowning as he saw the smirk on Ce's face. The pair strolled towards the familiar courtyard and stopped by the perimeter of the training grounds. As guessed correctly, Huang Gai was indeed in training, except this time with Sun Quan. Zhou Tai was lying underneath a tree in the shade, reading a large thick book.

"Good afternoon my Lords!" Gai called out from his spot. He was in a power deadlock with Quan, carefully keeping his balance so that he didn't topple over and crush the young prince. "What can I do to help you?"

"Well Huang Gai, we just-"

"We found one of your bombs in the kitchen where the explosion happened," interrupted Sun Ce as he walked up close to his brother. "It was at the point where the fire started…" Ce, in his usual playful mood, waved a hand in front of Quan's face, trying to distract him from the job at hand.

"Huh?" Gai responded, shocked. "But surely I haven't been so careless as to leave a bomb in such a place where people could get hurt, especially the people who are like family to me? No, I don't think I did it. I'm careful with those bombs and you guys know that."

Jian nodded at his best friend and aide- Huang Gai may have been big and strong but he certainly wasn't careless. "But if it wasn't you then who could it have been? Did anyone have access to your bombs?"

"No, but Sun Quan here did ask me if he could study some of them and how they work in battle…" Gai trailed off and noticed the worried expression on the young prince's face. He couldn't have… could he?

"Ah, and the transformation is complete!"

Gan Ning smiled as he held up a large mirror up to Lu Xun. He showed the young strategist his reflection, and needless to say Xun was not pleased. He frowned as he looked at himself and what the two 'monsters' had done to him. His cheeks were fully rouged and his lips now a worryingly feminine shade of pink. His golden eyes surrounded in a sea of pale blue eye shadow, and his normally straight brown hair had been curled and lavishly decorated with silk flowers and ribbons. It was enough to make the poor boy sick to his stomach. It was hard enough not being able to do anything about it. His hands were tied around his back, only released in the short time it took for Sun Shang Xiang and the mischievous ex-pirate to force him into the maroon dress. He had shuddered as the silk touched his bare skin- it was like a bad dream and he just wanted to wake up.

From where she stood next to a small table Shang Xiang clapped to show her opinion. It was annoying her that she couldn't speak yet and flapping her arms around was starting to ache. She ran over to Ning and pointed to herself questioningly.

"Oh yeah! That's the plan! You don't mind do you?"

Shang Xiang shook her head as she smiled. Before she left the room she patted Lu Xun's head, grinned at him, and waved to the two men as she left them alone. As she walked out she remembered that she was still meant to be locked in her room, so she sneaked stealthily along the long corridor trying to keep out of sight. It was important that she didn't get caught- if she had then she would never be able to go through with the plan! From downstairs she heard someone talking… it sounded like Da Qiao so she hid behind a wall until the sound stopped. She sighed before grabbing her door handle and running inside.

As soon as she entered the weapon laden room she headed straight for the wardrobe. There were two sides to it, and one side had hardly been opened. In fact, the handle was starting to get dusty, but it had on it a handprint from earlier that day. Sun Shang Xiang closed the room door before opening the unused wardrobe door. In front of her a small selection of dresses were revealed, unworn and still in their original state. There was an empty space from where the maroon dress (now on Lu Xun) had been, and below the dresses were a row of equally unworn dainty shoes. She sighed again as she began to examine the outfits. It was time to choose a dress for herself…

"I swear it wasn't me! I promise!"

Sun Quan picked up some of his long robe in his hands and ran around the courtyard as he was chased by a rather angry Sun Jian. Jian was waving his sword around, his face red with anger.

"Your sister could've died in that fire!" he screamed as he chased his second son. Sun Ce was now sitting underneath the tree next to Zhou Tai watching on, smiling, glad that it wasn't him facing the wrath of the Tiger.

"Please! It WASN'T me!"

"You had the bombs! Therefore, IT WAS YOU!"

The frightened prince ran to behind the tree, and after giving his elder brother a kick in his back, proceeded to climb it, shedding his robe as he did. He didn't once stop until he had reached the safety of the higher branches.

"Quan, you coward!" Ce called upwards. "Face your punishment like a man!"

"What punishment? I thought you could only get punished if you did something wrong!"

Sun Ce chuckled. "Not in the Sun family law…"

Jian walked slowly up to the tree, trying to hide the fact that he was gasping for breath. He knew he was getting too old for chasing his children around the place, but what if word got out that he was starting to feel old? Ce and Quan would begin arguments about who should get the throne, and Jian certainly didn't need that…

"Dad! You know I'd never do anything to harm anyone!" Quan pleaded as he held onto the branches for dear life. "If you put your sword away I'll come down!"

"If you don't come down I'll come up there!"

Quan gulped. "But I didn't do it! If you'll just let me explain…"

"Explain what? That you left a highly explosive bomb in the kitchen, causing it to burn down? There's not much to explain there!"

From in the middle of the action Zhou Tai shook his head disapprovingly. The Suns had only just got out of their therapy session and it already seemed as if they'd need another! He knew that the quiet peacefulness wouldn't last long.

"Dad! I gave one of the bombs to someone else! They said they wanted to have a look at one because they wanted to learn how to use them!"

"WHAT?"

"He said he was thinking of a strategy and wanted to know how he could use bombs!"

"And who was this exactly?"

"Promise you won't tell them?"

"No."

Sun Quan sighed. "It was Lu Xun. I'm sure he didn't mean to leave it there! You know him, he's always careful. Hey, Dad, where are you going?" He sat in the tree as he watched Jian drag Ce along back to the castle.

"To find Lu Xun!"

Relaxing in the library, Lu Meng leant back into one of the soft chairs and stared up at the ceiling. He hadn't heard from Gan Ning for a while now and was starting to worry. What was that ex-pirate scheming? Quite frankly he didn't want to know. Ning's schemes weren't always fully thought out and they usually went wrong… horribly wrong… Meng wasn't too bothered about his situation. He had enjoyed the bachelor lifestyle for all of his life so far, so he didn't see why spending the rest of his life as a singleton would be any different. He was just confused with all of his emotions flying all over the place. If only life was easy…

"There ya are!"

Meng sat back up straight and saw none other than Gan Ning approaching him. Ning sat on the table edge and grinned at his friend.

"What are you up to Ning?"

"What do you mean? I happen to have a surprise in store for you, and let me say you're going to be a very lucky man! Very lucky indeed…" Ning patted the general's back. "Cheer up! You need to be happy for your date!"

"Date? You got me set up on a DATE?"

"Not exactly a date. It's more of a double date, to make you feel more at ease."

"You got me TWO women?"

"Heck no! You'd be a nervous wreck if I got you two! Nah, I'm taking the Lady Sun along…"

"What kind of date is this?"

"It's a date! Just a simple dinner date underneath the sunset… do you have a problem with that Meng? Or did you want something fancier than that?"

"No, I'm just surprised that you're going to. And with Sun Shang Xiang… is there something you're not telling me?"

The ex-pirate tried to cover up the embarrassed expression on his face by forcing himself not to smile, trying to keep a straight face. "What? I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Ah, it's not so funny when I'm doing it to you is it?" Meng smirked. "I know how close you two are…"

"Listen Meng, we're just friends! We're doing this for you, so be grateful!" Gan Ning jumped off the table and started to walk towards the doors he had entered from. "I've asked the chef to prepare the meal for just before sunset, so don't bother going to the main dinner. And it's formal dress so be smart!"

Lu Meng shook his head as Ning left him alone. As if he needed to be told to dress smartly! If anything that ex-pirate needed to be saying that to himself! Even if the date didn't go according to plan it would just be worth it to see Gan Ning in something that actually covered his top half…

"Face it Pops! We ain't gonna find him!" The Little Conqueror watched as his father continued to search in any unlocked room, opening the doors and calling out Lu Xun's name. "He's not here! He might be hiding…"

"He'd better be good at hiding because once I'm finished with him he'll be too scared to show his face again! No one puts my baby girl's life at risk!"

Ce sighed and followed Jian along the corridor of bedrooms. They had spent the last hour searching for Xun but they couldn't find him and so far the search had proved hopeless. Perhaps Xun had known this would happen… surely he knew that the explosion had been his fault? If so, it was better for him to not show his face around an angry Sun Jian…

Suddenly the pair heard a door open from behind them. The turned around and saw Lu Meng leave his room, and to their surprise he was dressed in formal wear, in a traditional suit. It was odd seeing him like this, especially as he wasn't smiling. He hadn't been forced into it, so why was he so damn miserable?

"Hey Meng!" Ce called out. "What's the occasion?"

"Forced double date," the general replied glumly. "All thanks to that ex-pirate friend of mine…"

"I see I see… who's your date?"

"I don't know! Ning's got me a surprise date…"

"Well, I wish you luck with your date Lu Meng," Jian called out as he popped his head into a room. "I hope you have better luck with that than I am with finding Lu Xun…"

Lu Meng looked puzzled. "Why are you looking for Lu Xun?"

"He might know something important about last night's fire… something very important…"

"Oh, alright then." Lu Meng straightened out the front of his jacket making sure that he looked somewhat presentable. "I'd best be off then- the date should be starting soon. I'll see you guys later I guess!" He bade the father and son pair farewell before heading down the stairs. As he took each step he felt as if the butterflies in his stomach were jumping. He was so nervous… he didn't know why, it was only a short date, nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't as if he had to marry the first woman he laid eyes on.

Slowly he wandered down the long hallway that led down to the outside eating area. The sun was starting to go down, warming the sky gently. It looked quite pleasing, and Meng hoped that at least the surroundings would lighten his mood.

He stepped outside and walked down some of the steps to the table that had been laid out for four people. Immediately he was greeted by Gan Ning.

"I see you made it!" Ning patted Meng hard on the back, causing him to cough out of shock. "Ah, sorry there! Anyway, here we are at your date!" He pointed towards the neatly decorated table and led Lu Meng towards it. There were two young ladies already sat down- one Lu Meng recognised immediately from the short tomboyish hair as Sun Shang Xiang, except she was wearing a dress. The other one he didn't recognise. This lady was wearing a maroon dress, had short hair, neatly curled with flowers added as a final feminine touch, and was wearing make up that enhanced her pretty features. She looked beautiful…

"Now Lu Meng, I searched long and hard for the perfect date for you, but I found one!" Ning took Meng over to the young lady. Meng could see that she was probably as nervous as he was, and that Shang Xiang was just grinning away.

"And this must be she?" asked Meng as he smiled at his 'date'.

The ex-pirate beamed and nodded. "Lord Lu Meng, let me introduce you to Lady Li!"