Note: This story isn't historically accurate. The author made great use of historical license in writing it. The inaccuracy is designed to add to the dramatic aspects of the plot. The Huns' invasions and the first Japanese incursion into Chinese territory are at least two centuries apart. The military apparatuses used in the story are out of their respective Eras, as well. That being said, the cultural aspects of Chinese society were extensively studied and are, mostly, accurate, though. Enjoy the reading!

Flower of China

By Kath Klein

Translated by Yoruki Hiiragizawa

Chapter XIII

It was still dark outside when Sakura woke up with her heart pounding and feeling her mouth dry. Looking at the other side of the bed, she could see Tomoyo fast asleep. Whenever the General went with Captain Kinomoto to visit Daidouji's place, Sakura ended up sleeping in her friend's room as Xiao Lang usually spent the night there. She got up and walked to the water jug over the dresser, finding it empty.

She was parched and after just a bit of hesitation, instead of waking Tomoyo up, she decided to go by herself to the end of the corridor where an extra jug was usually found. She opened the door and peeked outside, finding the hallway covered in darkness with all but one candle burned down to the socket. Taking the lit candle with her, she tiptoed toward the refreshment near the stairs keeping her eyes peeled and ears to the ground. Luckily, the house was silent and everybody seemed to be already sleeping.

As wary as a cat, she got to the holder containing the water jug and quickly filled a mug with the fresh liquid, drinking it in a single gulp. Her thirst sated, she immediately started making it back to Tomoyo's room, least she risked being seen by someone. She was still a couple doors away from her destiny when she heard steps and, without even thinking, blew out the candle just as someone opened a door.

Controlling her breath, she took a small step ahead, trying to make it to the room in the dark but the creaking floorboard under feet made her cringe and she decided, against her better judgment, to press herself against the wall hoping to go unnoticed by whoever it was.

'Dammit! Why is it so dark in here?' She heard Li's unmistakable voice and felt her heart start pounding so loud in her chest that it became a bit difficult to hear what was happening around her over her own heartbeat.

She should've known that there was a slim chance of running into someone when she left the bedroom. Actually, she did know that but didn't think it would be him. Why did it have to be the General of all people? Closing her eyes, she started praying that he would go back to Xanrei's room so that she could find her way back to Tomoyo's.

In the pitch-black corridor, she could hear him bumping into some objects and complaining under his breath as he got closer and closer to where she was. She gasped and held her breath when his fingers brushed over her arm and stomach.

'Who is this?' he inquired, holding her arm against the wall.

Sakura didn't know what to answer. Not only was she wearing a borrowed female hanfu, but she had also untied her breasts. She couldn't be Touya. Besides, Touya wouldn't have any reason to hide in the dark like that.

She was trying to come up with something to say, but try as she might, it was hard to think of something when his touch kept eliciting such strong sensations out of her body. His touch was tingling her skin like a myriad of shocks, causing goosebumps all over her.

'Well, who are you, girl?' he wanted to know, his knuckles gliding over the shape of her body.

She gasped and bit her lower lip to hold a soft whimper as his hand outlined her breast on his way up to her neck and face. She could feel his warm breath ghosting over her face as he got closer, probably trying to make out her features in the dark.

A tiny voice at the corner of her head started to warn her that she should get away from there, get away from him but, despite realising that she could easily get rid of him if she wanted to, she only shut the voice up and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his calloused hand on her skin and hair.

'Is it you, Luyan?' he asked, running his fingers through her hair.

'Mmhmm…' she hummed, letting him think she was the concubine whose hair was also shoulder-length like hers.

She swallowed hard, aware of her accelerating heartbeat and ran her hands up along his bare chest and back, noticing that he hadn't closed his uniform top upon exiting the room. With her eyes closed, her mind conjured up the vision of his naked body moving over the noisy concubine the night before and she scratched his back, making him hiss.

'You were not upset because I chose another, were you?' he whispered in her ear, his voice deep with desire. He leant down toward her, his lips and tongue brushing against her skin, tasting her.

Sakura inhaled his familiar musky scent - a trace of black powder and sweat - and turned her head so that she could kiss the side of his neck. She couldn't see him in the dark corridor, so she traced the contours of his face - his chin, his jaw, his nose, his lips - with her fingers. Sakura shuddered, feeling him slide one hand through her hair as the other explored her body.

She could pretend to be a man in front of everyone else but she could never kid herself. Tomoyo wasn't entirely wrong, either, at assuming she was curious about how it felt like to be made a woman. It would be impossible not to feel curiosity, considering how frequently she went to the brothel. The point was that the man in her arms right now was the only one capable of making her lose control and give in to that aching.

She let out a moan, feeling Xiao Lang take one of her small breasts in his hand through the thin hanfu fabric. Before she could lose her nerve, Sakura pulled his head to her, placing her lips over his.

'I can see that you weren't upset…' he practically growled against her mouth, pressing his taut body on hers against the wall, his tongue opening its way into her soft lips, exploring her mouth with hunger.

She could feel an unfamiliar heat coil up in her belly and gasped between kisses, instinctively pressing her hips against his.

He moaned at her movement and his lips traced kisses down her chin and over her neck as his hands found their way into her hanfu. 'You smell so good…' he murmured against her skin.

With a quiet sigh, she decided to try and return his actions. She parted her lips, gently nipping at the jaw she knew so well and at his neck while tasting his salty skin.

He groaned and pulled her legs slightly apart, pressing himself against her core as he touched her body under her hanfu.

Sakura shuddered again, feeling his warmth and hardness close to her centre even through the barrier of their clothing. Her body wanted him to continue eliciting those delicious sensations but she knew that madness had gone too far already. She kissed him again, threading her arms around his neck and, hooking her leg around his knee, she took his balance off and inverted their positions, throwing him against the wall with a thump and a grunt.

"You're more daring than ever…" he said through gritted teeth, nipping at her earlobe. "Just the way I like it…"

She bit down a moan and pressed her lips against his in a hard kiss, preparing to make a run for it. She held his arms to the wall, taking his hands off her and couldn't resist nibbling at his lower lip, drawing a rumbling moan out of him. She then took a step back, finally releasing him with a slight push and lost him in the darkness.

'Hey!...' he said, knocking something, probably a candle holder from the top of one of the hallway furniture, down with a bump. 'W-what…? Where did you…?'

Sakura glided towards Tomoyo's room, taking advantage of the noise he was making and before anyone decided to show up to check what the fuss was about, she held her breath, opening an aperture just wide enough for her to slip through.

Closing the door behind her, she leant down against the wood and released her breath, with weak knees. Sakura closed her eyes as Xiao Lang continued to call out for "Luyan" in the corridor and left out a ragged breath. The General would probably end up waking the whole house.

'Sakura,' Tomoyo called her, sitting up on the bed and muffling a yawn. 'What happened?' The concubine asked, getting up from the bed.

Sakura looked at her friend and shook her head while standing up. She didn't want to talk about that.

'Are you alright?' Tomoyo inquired, with concern written all over her face.

Sakura nodded, her whole body still shaking. 'I-I need to dress up,' she muttered, flinching inward when Xiao Lang passed by the door, his voice like thunder. 'You better go out there and calm him down.'

Tomoyo narrowed her eyes on Sakura, watching her friend disappear into the lavatory to retrieve her uniform, and let out a long sigh of resignation, before turning to the door to tend to the "feral wolf" roaming around the corridor.

Sakura was lying on her bed staring blankly at the ceiling. She knew she should be trying to get some sleep but couldn't.

She felt troubled by what she had done and by what she allowed to happen earlier that morning. It had been foolish and there was no justification for her to have given in like that other than her own selfishness. To make things worse, whenever she closed her eyes, she could still recall the taste of Xiao Lang's lips on hers, the feeling of his calloused palms exploring her body. And she couldn't even lie to herself and pretend she hadn't enjoyed it.

Admittedly, since coming back from Shanghai, she had started wondering what it would feel like to be a woman in Xiao Lang's arms, mostly in the dead of the night, in those misty minutes that preceded sleep. However, it really hadn't been her brightest idea to cross the General on the eve of their departure to battle; he'd been irascible the whole day, snapping at everyone in sight and she just knew the next few days would be equally painful. There wasn't a worst possible time for her to give in to those love fantasies…

She felt her breath catch in her throat at that thought and sat up on the bed, covering her face with her hands. That wasn't possible! She couldn't be in love with Xiao Lang... She just couldn't!

That's right! She wasn't in love! It… it was probably just an infatuation; if anything at all.

Whatever it was, she couldn't allow that to happen again. She'd been curious for a while but now her curiosity had been sated and… And anyway… Thinking about that was a waste of her time. She had more important things to worry about.

"Get a grip, Sakura!" She thought, patting her cheeks a couple times.

Letting herself fall back to the bed, Sakura covered her eyes with her arm. The might of the Chinese Army would be heading to the Forward Camps in less than a week, after that it would be only a matter of time till they met the enemies in battle.

Honestly, she was terrified of confronting the Huns again. Yes, it was true that she was better prepared now, after almost two years in the army, than she had been that first time. She was better equipped to defend herself and, most importantly, to defend her Emperor, her homeland, her people and those placed under her command.

She heaved a sigh and turned to her side, curling up while hugging her legs against her chest. She just couldn't get rid of the lump that formed in her throat at the memory of Ban dying in her arms. She was well aware that not everybody would come back home to their families. She might not survive it, either. If only there was a way she could avoid all that death and pain somehow…

She sighed again, wondering if the only way for humanity to exist in the world was through violence and destruction. She wouldn't shirk her duty. The Huns had invaded China and brought only chaos and havoc to that great land and to its simple folk. They were forcing their hand on the matter but even so…

She shook her head, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. That was a moot point in any case and wasn't the only thing bothering her.

Sakura couldn't deny that she feared for her General's life. Xiao Lang was formidable in combat, probably the best warrior in the whole of China but he wasn't immortal. She closed her eyes and pressed on them with her fingers. She already regretted Ban's death, if something happened to another of Touya's friends, she would never forgive herself.

Opening her eyes again, she sat at the edge of the bed with her feet on the ground and arms on her knees. She wearily ran a hand through her hair, deciding against tying it up again as she gazed at empty space for a while.

If she happened to fall on the battlefield, she'd be cremated without any kind of ceremony along with many other soldiers due to her being young, unmarried and having no family to mourn her. It was actually sad to think about that, but she would literally disappear from the world without leaving a trace. Just like Ban.

It was probably better that way. Captain Kinomoto would go down as a hero instead of being unmasked as a traitorous nobody.

Heaving a sigh, her eyes locked on her shining new sword. Custom-made for Captain Kinomoto. Even though the General had decided against using her calculations to forge her new sword, it was still lighter than her previous one and a lot easier for her to handle. The stubborn man insisted on letting some room for her to grow into because Touya was still supposed to grow up and "it would be a waste of a good blade if they forged it only for Captain Kinomoto to outgrow the weapon in a couple of months", as he put it. The problem was that she would never outgrow it. She would remain petite, no matter how much muscle she wound up developing. Her body would never be like that of a man's.

She sighed with slumped shoulders and buried her face in her hands. Deep down, she always knew that stunt would eventually come to an end. Touya's lifespan had never been designed to last. Since coming back from Shanghai, she felt her control over the circumstances slipping through her fingers as if Xiao Lang might figure her secret at any moment now. She was honestly surprised she had been able to fool him for so long, already.

Her General was anything but stupid…

…And she needed to make the best of the little control she still had, measure her options and take a logical decision.

Getting up from the bed, she started pacing around trying to clear her head. Any choice would be out of her hands if she ended up dying in the coming battle and, at least, she could be satisfied with the thought of falling in an honourable way. Now, if she survived...

Maybe she could forge Touya's death, get back to The Forbidden City after the battle and retrieve the money she has been stashing with Tomoyo. She had saved enough to buy a small property someplace isolated where she could make a living of working the land. She would need a new set of documents but that was something Tomoyo could easily help her with. It was not like the concubine didn't have the means to help her or influence with some shady characters around the city.

Yes, she could start over as some other young man. Maybe she could enrol herself again and take on the arms as someone else. That would be nice. She was good at soldiering. She would have two more years fighting and training before needing to "die" again but that would be a piece of cake the second time around. Right?

She frowned, tossing herself back over the bed with her face against the mattress to muffle a dissatisfied groan. Starting over every two years wasn't what she wanted. Not to mention that at some point her age would start showing up on her features.

Turning over, she opened a manic grin thinking that it might be fun to ask Tomoyo to go with her. Tomoyo could pretend to be her... wife, maybe? She laughed imagining the look on Tomoyo's face if she were to ask her friend to be her make-believe mother. Though the dark-haired woman was quite a few years older than she, Tomoyo took great pride in her appearance and kept her real age well under wraps.

In any case, between the two of them, they had enough money to live comfortably somewhere else and Sakura could very well use her abilities to work as a bounty hunter. It was a frowned-upon line of work by the military but just as necessary, especially in remote locations.

Another possibility was to travel around the world without establishing herself anywhere. Being constantly on the move would make it easier to hide being a woman. Each day a new place, meeting new people. She would be always alone, though.

She let out a long wistful sigh. She just knew she would end up missing Xiao Lang more than she'd ever imagined possible. If spending a month apart from him while she remained in Shanghai had been lonely, never seeing him again would be... Well, she had no words to describe it, really. She might be able to meet up with Tomoyo whenever she came back to The Forbidden City, at least.

'Dammit!' she muttered through gritted her teeth, bothered by the slight pinprick of unshed tears in her eyes. She would just have to get used to being alone. It would be necessary and there was no reason to cry over this. Especially not over missing that idiotic General whose lips had set her body on fire just a couple hours earlier.

She shouldn't have allowed that to happen. Why did she have to give in to her damn curiosity? His proximity had drawn her in like a moth to the flames and she ended up getting burned. It was so unfair that she was the only one to feel the fire.

She really needed to get away from that man as soon as possible and end with that charade before her curiosity got her in trouble; before her body betrayed her.

She needed to keep in her mind that, no matter how much General Li appreciated Captain Kinomoto, no matter how many times Xiao Lang claimed to be Touya's friend, he owed nothing to Sakura.

And if he ever found out Touya was actually a woman, there was a bothersome certainty at the back of her mind telling her she'd lose her life by his hands.

That thought chased a chill down the back of her neck, flooring her back on here and now. She had to be the one to put an end to Touya's existence. Otherwise, she'd end up facing the General inside one of The Forbidden City's torture chambers. And she still had nightmares about the things he taught her to do in that place.

Captain Kinomoto halted Yin, her beautiful dusty-white mare, at the same time General Li pulled up his black stallion's reins, forcing the animal into a full stop near the Officers' tent.

They'd spent almost a fortnight encamped before the arrival of the hawk with a message from one of the watch-posts announcing that the Huns had made their move and initiated the siege to the Chifeng Palace. Their detachment immediately broke camp and headed to an agreed-upon checkpoint, just about a couple hours from where their ambush would effectively take place.

Right now, a final gathering between the Officers would take place to hone in any last-minute aspects of the plan before setting out to the final leg of the journey that would, hopefully, put an end to all that meaningless killing.

The "hopefully" part was what gave Sakura the jittery feeling in her stomach. They were undoubtedly taking a huge risk following that course of action and, though the Huns had acted according to their predictions up till now, if anything went wrong –– if the battle went South and the Huns somehow managed to come out on top –– then she would've failed not only her General but her Emperor and herself. China would be put into a difficult position with almost no means to defend itself, once they've taken the brunt of their military forces to that battle. There was only a third of their total military strength protecting the Lord of Ten Thousand Years at the moment.

Looking to the side, she saw Xiao Lang getting down of his horse, the lithe gracefulness of his movements taking her breath away. She'd been notably and acutely aware of his presence and his every move since that fated early morning in Tomoyo's establishment almost a month ago. It was almost as if she had developed a sixth sense that revolved around that man. It was a rather uncomfortable sensation to deal with, especially on the verge of a battle.

Shaking her head, she dismounted as well, following him inside the Officer's tent beside some other Officers from their contingent, all along avoiding to even look at him.

Their detachment had been the one farther away from the meeting point and it had taken them half a day longer to get there, so it was no surprise that they were the last ones to arrive. As they approached the other Generals, Xiao Lang offered a situation report about their men and inquired about the rest of the troops before getting down to business.

'The hawk we received have reported about the Huns moving into the Shāngu Valley to besiege the Chifeng Palace,' Xiao Lang stated, looking around and meeting the eyes of Xue Lian. 'Have we received any updates about the situation in the Valley?'

The other Officers in the tent turned to Xue Lian, refraining from providing an answer without the go-ahead from him. As the senior officer on the field, it was his prerogative to take charge of the strategic meeting if he so pleased. The truth was that the elder outspoken man was not satisfied with the Emperor's decision to send him to the battleground and was snapping at everyone for apparently no reason, so it was better not to provoke him.

'Our last update was sent two days ago,' General Xue grunted as he extended a stripe of a message to Li. 'It seems like your protegè's idea is actually coming through, General Li. You must be very proud,' he muttered with gritting teeth. The hostility between the two Generals was no secret among the Army's high echelon.

A self-satisfied grin appeared on Xiao Lang's face even as he chose to abstain from replying, opting for focusing on the mission. 'That's no good at all. Two days is a long time. Many too things can change in a second's notice on a battlefield,' he mulled over the new information. 'We'll need to confirm the situation before heading out.'

'And what about our men inside the Palace, General? Should we just abandon them?' One Major half-growled an inquiry.

Xiao Lang regarded the man, utterly unimpressed, and turned to Captain Kinomoto with a raised eyebrow requesting an input.

Sakura cleared her throat. 'They're in a reinforced and superior station as of now. The siege has been laid for merely a week, which is well within our estimated reaction time. We, on the other hand, will be in a hazardous position, which will be made thousands of times more vulnerable if we have inaccurate information about the enemy's status.'

General Xue rolled his eyes at Li's look of satisfaction at the young Captain's reply. He had to admit that the youngling had a good head on his shoulders and a keen mind for strategizing. It was just unfortunate that he'd ended up under Li's tutelage. 'A small scouting party would be able to get us the information we require and be back in a couple of hours,' he suggested.

Xiao Lang nodded. 'How many men?'

'Not more than five,' Xue Lian advised and dismissed the small assembly. 'I'm sure General Li can take care of it. The rest of you make sure the men are ready to move as soon as we set a plan.'

'Kinomoto, you'll be in charge of the scouting unit,' Xiao Lang determined, turning to face Touya. He trusted Touya's abilities and knew he would pay attention to crucial details. 'You know our men, chose the party. Take my spyglass with you.'

Sakura nodded, exiting the tent after the General.

In no time, Sakura was riding out through the Xiázhai passage with four other soldiers in order to scout their enemies.

As soon as she saw the top of the palace in the distance after a steep slope, she pulled Yin's reins and brought her mare to an easy trot. 'Whoa, whoa…' she steadily gestured to the men following her to do the same as she entered the woodland nearby. She halted at the edge of the thicket of trees around them and surveyed the area ahead taking advantage of their position.

In front of them, the woods gave a wide berth into a Hun infested clearing all the way down to the North –– "Toward the Shāngu Valley," she thought –– only interspaced by small groves and surrounded by white snow-covered mountains. Built at the side of the Southernmost mountain was the Chifeng Palace, with its stone walls and red roofs.

As was expected from their enemies, the Huns wasted no time with finesse while enclosing the palace, even if they still hadn't succeeded at breaching its defences –– laying a siege, just as planning and springing an ambush was a matter of patience, after all. Several enemy troops were spread over the clearing, but they were still too far away to see specific settings, even with the help of Xiao Lang's spyglass.

With her eyes, Sakura traced the tree outline that gave way to the glade. If they kept themselves covered by the woods, they'd be able to better look out the enemy distribution on the terrain.

'Follow me, men,' Dismounting her horse, she pulled the reins, guiding the huffing animal to a higher point of the forest that shielded them from enemy eyes. 'And keep an eye out to make sure no one sees us.'

Taking out a piece of parchment, a brush and a flask of ink, she quickly sketched the layout of the land and started taking notes, pointing out points of interest –– their fortifications, the more crowded places, where they kept their mounts and their supplies. She also noticed that the Huns had the structure of a couple traction trebuchets under construction.

'Clever! Very clever,' she saw how they were cutting down the trees closest to the palace to build the siege equipment instead of having brought it with them. 'Well, it's a pity they'll never get to finish them.'

'We can go back, now,' she declared after the nankin had dried out.

As she galloped over the narrow gorge of the Xiázhai passage to report back, an idea materialised in her mind about putting the pass to better use than in their original plan. It was too cramped a space for a large troop to quickly advance through there, but a small unit could make it in good time. With that, they could flank the Huns by both sides and help stop them from retreating.

As they approached the camp, Sakura could feel the men's anxiety on the reception they received. Those soldiers were ready to put an end to the slaughter going on for the past five years. As she reached the Officer's tent, Yin hadn't even fully stopped yet when she dismounted expertly, strutting toward her superiors with a proud gait.

'They're stationed at the valley and definitely came in force,' she reported with a smirk and presented her sketch to Li.

'Did they actually believe our decoy?' Xue Lian asked astounded, as if only now fully accepting that the battle could be won.

'Yes, Sir,' Sakura nodded, turning back to Xiao Lang who was reading her notes and saw the moment he widened his eyes.

'Is this correct? They're building their trebuchets?' He looked at the Captain with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded. 'And they don't seem to have brought much in terms of heavy artillery, either.'

The Senior Officers smiled, exchanging vicious looks. 'We'll crush them, once and for all!' Declared a General.

The Officers turned back to the tent, already strategizing with Sakura's map in hands.

'I also had an idea to thwart the Hun's withdraw that I'd like to run through you, Sir,' she said, placing herself beside her General.

'No need. I trust you, Kinomoto,' Xiao Lang said with a lopsided smirk. 'You can present it inside, directly to the old geezers. Now let's go. We have a war to win.'

To be continued.

Edited on November 29th, 2019.