A/N- Happy holidays! Christmas is in 2 hours for me, so I leave you all with this update for the holidays. Take care everyone, I hope you all have a nice holiday whether you celebrate it or not, and I'll see you next update! TotallyNuts wuvs you all!

Chapter 22- The Wedding Planners

"It's AWFUL! He's really lost it this time!"

"Hey, just calm down! I'm sure if you screamed that loud he wouldn't go through with it…"

Gan Ning was trying his best to calm Sun Shang Xiang down on his boat, but it wasn't working. She was still angry and letting out little screams like a volcano ready to erupt, and even the odd kiss wouldn't make her settle. Thankfully the chakrams were safe in her room and not in her grasp, or Ning would have been in desperate need of medical attention.

Shang Xiang banged her fist against the cabin wall and took a deep breath. "There's absolutely no way he's making me get married to Taishi Ci… I mean, out of all people!" She seethed and sat herself on the window seat, looking out at the water as the boat rocked to its gentle motions. Her nerves calmed slightly when Ning walked over and sat next to her, trying to comfort her. "I don't think he wants to marry me either, so Father wouldn't force us both into marriage… would he?"

"I don't know… you know Taishi Ci, the filial son… if his mother wants him to marry you, then he'll say yes, unless he actually wants to stand up to her."

"Somehow I don't think he's THAT brave." She looked at him, and noticed that he wasn't looking too happy himself. "Is something wrong?"

Ning shrugged and stared out of the window mindlessly, thinking about earlier that day. "It's just Ling Tong crap again… he won't let it drop! All we do is argue and argue and it's doing my head in. He actually tried to hit me with that weapon of his in sparring today! Your brother had to step in before we really did hurt each other…"

"Wow… have you tried talking to him? You know, taking him to one side and explaining to him that neither of you need this? There are more important things to be worrying about now."

"I would do that, if he ever listened to me! Trying to talk to him is like… I don't know… trying to make you give up your chakrams."

"That's impossible."

"I know… I'll try and find him when he's not in such a sarcastic mood- you know what he's like with his damn comments and backchat. He's just like a child at times." He stretched his legs and nudged his partner a little. "Hey, what are you going to do now? Go back into the castle?"

As much as she didn't want to, Shang knew she'd have to go back. The problem wasn't going to disappear if she simply hid away from it and pretended it wasn't there. She would have to sort it out herself… "I suppose I'll have to, I can't stay here forever. I just need to think of a way to stop my father…"

Gan Ning stood up and led her to the door, before leading the way back to the castle. "You could always tell him about us, maybe that would make him change his mind."

"How so?"

"Well, he doesn't like seeing his little girl upset does he?"

"He also doesn't like seeing his children unmarried and without children." She sighed and crossed her arms, staring at the castle ahead. "Why couldn't he have picked on Quan instead? He's not married!"

"Your brother can choose whoever he wants to get married to, that's the way it is. You're a princess, you're hot property. There's more in it for both sides." He pulled her close, looked around quickly, and kissed her cheek. "But don't worry about it, I'm on your side, we'll make sure nothing happens to you!"

"I hope so…" Shang tried to smile, trying to show some sign that she wasn't going to be defeated so easily. There was only one man she wanted to marry, and it definitely wasn't the sleepwalker.

The library door swung open fast, one half of it swinging straight into the wall behind with a resounding thud. Ling Tong walked straight into the room, his face still burning red in anger, and slumped into a chair ready to sulk. He just wanted to attack something… he just despised spending any time at all with that pirate! The sooner everything is over the better… Tong looked around the room- he hadn't had the chance too when he entered, he had been too busy sulking. He could see around the corner a pair of feet sticking out, so he stood up, leaving his nunchaku safely by a couple of scrolls, and walked over.

"Taishi Ci… I didn't expect to find you here." Tong scratched his head as he looked down at Ci, who was lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. His face was expressionless; he looked like he was at the end of the world.

Ci turned his head slightly to see who it was, before he returned to his original position. "Ah, hello Tong, it's only you…"

"Only me? Are you avoiding someone?"

"You could say that…" Ci groaned and closed his eyes. "Sun Jian is nuts and my mother is just as bad. They're crazy I tell you!"

"Well, we all know that." Tong lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged next to his comrade. He leant against a nearby wall and watched as Ci fell silent and sighed deeply. "What happened anyway?"

After covering his face with his hands Ci sat up and pointed towards a portrait of the Sun family. "See that portrait there?" Tong nodded, slightly confused, but he continued anyway. "Well, Sun Jian and my mother seem to think that I'd look perfect in that picture." He looked less than amused at Tong's smirk. "It's not funny! I'm not marrying her!"

"I couldn't say you'd make a great couple, she'd rip you to shreds!" The young warrior took another look at the portrait, and tried to picture Taishi Ci sandwiched between Sun Jian and a smiling Sun Shang Xiang… it just didn't work. Anyone on the castle could've told him that! "It sounds like an absurd idea to me…"

"Sounds like? It IS!" Ci shook his head and was about to lie down again, until the two generals heard in the distance a conversation going on… "Right, I'm out of here!" Ci said quickly, before hastily jumping up to his feet and running for the exit on the other side, leaving Tong quite bemused.

The doors opened again, and none other than Sun Jian entered, with Taishi Ci's mother following. Ling Tong himself wanted to head out of the exit too, but then he realised… he had left his nunchaku on the table! He could always make up an excuse to leave…

Jian however had noticed Ling Tong's movements out of the corner of his eye- a tiger's eyesight was always sharp. "Ah, Ling Tong! Why don't you stay and join us? I'm sure you haven't heard the news yet?"

"News?" He feigned an expression of surprise. "What news?"

"Haha, only the news of my daughter's upcoming marriage to Taishi Ci! Now, we're going to need some ushers… how would you like to be an usher?"

"Well, actually I needed to get somewhere and I-"

"So you want to be an usher?"

"Erm, I really don't know just yet-"

Sun Jian turned to Ci's mother and grinned. "It looks like we have an usher!"

Upstairs in his private study, someone was hard at work, despite the madness going on elsewhere. Work still needed to be done, and he wasn't going to let a few incidents get in the way of helping running the kingdom smoothly. He lifted his quill pen to sign a few documents when…

"Zhouiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee!"

The Wu strategist sighed and put down his writing instruments, just as Xiao Qiao giggle and hugged him from behind. She kissed his cheek and squeezed him again, and he smiled. "What brings you here my love?" he asked as she settled down on his desk, trying not to knock everything off.

Xiao grinned cheekily at him as usual, this time showing her teeth- Yu didn't know whether this was a good or bad thing, it usually meant she was up to something. "Oh nothing… it's just that I'll be helping Da a lot with her new baby, when it's born of course!"

"I know that, you're very close to your sister."

"Yes yes! But… if I do a good job, can we have a baby?"

Zhou Yu's face froze- he had never thought about starting a family up until now. Faced with the question, he didn't know what to do! He knew that Xiao loved all things cute… kittens, puppies… and babies. But he wasn't ready for this just yet! He loved his job as strategist and didn't want to give it up for children so soon… "When would this be?"

"Erm… a couple of years?"

"We'll think about it." Yu sighed in relief, slightly surprised by her willingness to wait. She was one of the most impatient people he knew, and that was including himself. He hadn't ruled out the possibility of a family, but he really wanted to wait until Xiao was a bit older- she was still in the stage where she was too bouncy and carefree to be considered responsible enough to be a parent. Yu didn't doubt that she had it in her though… just not yet.

Even though she hadn't got a definite answer, Xiao's face beamed with a huge smile. "That's good enough for me!" She jumped around the room squealing, and then looked back towards her husband, still sat looking her slightly worriedly. "I mean… thank you!" She stood up straight trying to be as grown up as she possibly could, and skipped back out of the room.

Zhou Yu simply shook his head and smiled to himself, almost letting out a laugh. Sure she was childlike, but he found her cute. Like they said, opposites attract…

"I really hope this works…"

After taking a deep sigh, Sun Quan knocked on the door his brother had stood at only the day before. It seemed that now everyone wanted Huang Gai's advice! But Quan and Zhou Tai hadn't come here for themselves this time. If anyone can sort out those two, thought Quan, Gai can… Tai crossed arms and looked into the distance- he was wondering about the troublesome Wu pair. This was a friendly kingdom; there was no room for petty arguments and rivalries at all.

Some shuffling could be heard from behind the heavy door, along with some mumbling. From what Quan could hear, it sounded like 'What, more visitors?'. The door opened slightly, and as the large veteran warrior saw who it was it opened more.

"Why, hello my Lord, I didn't know I was so popular these last few days!" Huang Gai glanced at the both of them and scratched his head. "What brings you both here?"

"Gan Ning and Ling Tong."

Gai rolled his eyes, remembering the amount of times Ning had Tong had clashed since Tong had arrived. The pair always had something to say to each other, and it wasn't always necessarily nice. Everyone had grown tired of it all- the sarcasm, the backchat, the disputes. No matter what the point was, they would always debate it. "I see… well, they're both strong warriors, and together they could be quite powerful. We just need to get them to work together. Join forces, as to speak…"

"But Huang Gai," said Quan rather worriedly, "they hate each other to pieces at the moment. They wouldn't last a minute in the same room together, let alone working together on the battlefield! They'd probably turn on each other and rip each other to shreds!"

"Who said anything about working together on the battlefield?" Gai thought over his plan again and chuckled loudly. He stopped when he noticed the expressions on his visitors' faces. "I guess I'll share my suggestion with the both of you… well, have you noticed how under intense conditions you usually end working quite well with someone you don't usually get along with?"

Tai nodded in agreement, having experienced this a lot in his military career. "Yes, but it's usually out of force. You have to work together or you'll both die. On the battlefield of course…"

"Exactly. We just need to create a scenario where the pair will have to work together and combine their talents. To make it more interesting, we can have them 'compete' against another pair, maybe a pair including people they are quite competitive against?"

The pair nodded… it sounded like a good idea, but what was the idea exactly? Something competitive… Quan had a brainwave. "How about team sports? We could have arm wrestling teams?" His smile faded and turned into a pout when Tai coughed loudly, reminding him of what happened the last time. He definitely didn't want a repeat of that situation.

Gai shook his head again and grinned. "That wasn't what I had in mind… it needs to be something where you can work in teams quite effectively, can split jobs up fairly and work together, as well as being competitive."

"Well…" Tai paused to think, wanting to contribute something. "I know that Ning and Lu Meng are quite good friends and they love to compete against each other, so how about have Ning and Tong against… Meng and Lu Xun?"

"After what happened to those two I don't think so, besides Xun would be no good for this."

"I see… Sun Ce?"

"Hmmm… possibly. But he is busy with his wife right now, so we'll ask… I know, why don't you do it my Lord?"

"Me?" Quan didn't know how to react, Gai still hadn't said anything! "Alright then, but will you please tell us what the plan is?"

The elder general nodded and folded his arms proudly. "I'm suggesting a Wu cook off, Gan Ning and Ling Tong versus Lu Meng and Sun Quan. The prepared meal needs to be fit for a king… in this case, Sun Jian. I'll referee, and we'll have some willing generals watching. How about it?"

"Haha, that sounds great!" exclaimed Zhou Tai, trying not to laugh at the idea of Sun Quan cooking. He had never seen Quan cook before… did he even know how to? "When should it take place?"

"Unless we want those two arguing the castle into its doom, I say as soon as possible. Or tomorrow if that's best?" With two nods as his reply, Gai was satisfied. Now all he needed to do was deliver the 'bad' news to Gan Ning and Ling Tong… or find someone brave enough to do that for him…

Meanwhile back in the library, Sun Jian had enlisted the aid of two more 'volunteers' for his mission. If there were two people in the castle more interested in all things wedding-like and full of romance, it was definitely these two. Jian watched in amazement as the younger Qiao churned out rushed drawing after rushed drawing of ideas for wedding dresses.

"It should either have frills, bows, ribbons… why not all of them? Then Shangie will be absolutely pretty!" Xiao giggled as she pointed out each drawing to the confused male… Jian hadn't got the faintest idea about it. He did what he usually did when he had no idea what was being discussed- nod and smile. "We'll hide her tomboy clothes so she'll have no choice but to wear what we make her wear!"

"I'm not sure she'll be happy about it… what colour did you say that dress was?"

"Pink!"

As Xiao started to colour it in, Da brought out some sketches of hair styles. "Now, I know Shang Xiang has short hair, there's not much we can do to it. I was thinking about decorating her hair with jewels or flowers instead…"

"How about both?" chirped Xiao, her eyes wide and bright. There was nothing she loved more than designing dresses, and especially as it was for a wedding!

"Erm, that wouldn't work too well sis, we need to keep it simple, or Shang will just sulk."

"I have a feeling she'll sulk anyway," Jian moaned as he put his head into his hands. "She ran off screaming when I mentioned the wedding idea… I just want my little girl to be happy and married."

The two sisters looked at him, and then at each other, before whispering things into each other's ears. Giggling followed, along with happy clapping from Xiao. "My Lord," Da said, standing up from her chair, "if you wish, you can leave everything up to me and Xiao! We have experience in such matters, and can organise everything from the groom to the decorations to the food. Just leave it up to us!"

Jian raised his head, and feeling slightly happier he nodded. He now had the cooperation of the Qiao sisters… now he just needed his own daughter to do the same!