Note: This story isn't historically accurate. The author made great use of the 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 XVIII

Sakura was watching the General across from her at the table as she gnawed at the last of the Phoenix Claws they had for breakfast. He was methodically perusing a couple of maps of the region, probably trying to set the fastest way toward The Forbidden City. She wouldn't be able to know for sure once he hadn't talked to her since he tucked her into bed the previous day.

She regarded him through narrowed eyes as he, once again, leafed through the maps, mumbling something unintelligible under his breath. If she didn't know him better, she'd think the man was unsure of what to do, except that would be stupidity. General Li never hesitated once he knew what he had to do… Right? If she could form a good enough plan of action without even looking through the maps, then how could he be having trouble?

She heaved a sigh, slurping on the bone marrow of the claw she was nibbling at and trying to remain as indifferent to him as he was making a point of being to her. She couldn't deny that it bothered her, though. The distance he was putting between them. She was loath to admit it, but she missed the way they used to talk.

'I'm feeling a lot better today,' she said, her tone conversational and tentatively amenable.

He raised his eyes, gazing at her in silence for a couple of seconds before going back to the maps. 'Good,' was his only reply, sounding strangely aloof.

Slouching in her seat, she started tapping her fingers on the tabletop and let out a long-drawn sigh. She watched him in silence for a while as he kept rifling through the open maps over the table. Sakura leaned forward, trying to see what could possibly be taking him so long to decide on a path.

'I believe I'm even well enough for us to start the journey back to The Forbidden City if you'd like,' she tried once more to engage him in conversation but he wasn't interested in accommodating her.

With tired eyes, he briefly gazed at her from under a slanted brow before going back to analyze the maps. His lack of response made her anxious and she fought not to fidget or shuffle her feet at the awkward silence between them. She bit her lower lip, watching him mess around with the maps a couple more times. What exactly was his problem?

'Are you not planning to go straight to the Emperor?' She insisted on her questioning, trying to get an answer from him.

Xiao Lang gave up on whatever attempt he'd been making to avoid interacting with her and leaned back against the chair, facing her at last. 'You really have problems in keeping quiet, haven't you?'

She flashed him a cheeky grin. 'I suppose,' she shrugged, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. 'If you tell me what the problem is, I may be able to help, though.'

He merely raised an eyebrow as a slightly close-lipped smile. 'You must think I'm really stupid, huh?'

Her smile vanished at his taunting tone. 'I'm just trying to help,' she muttered, crossing her arms and slouching against her chair with a sulky pout on her lips.

'Why would I tell a prisoner about my plans? I'm not going to give you the tools to start working on a getaway scheme, Kinomoto,' he replied, shaking his head with a crooked smile on his face.

Sakura looked away from him for a moment, staring back up at him on the following second. 'Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about that,' she mumbled, unsure whether she'd actually intended for him to hear it or not. Inwardly, she berated herself for allowing a misguided sentimentality to overpower her better judgement. After all, she should be thinking about her escape.

It's not that she'd forgotten, exactly, where she was standing with him. She was well aware of being his prisoner. Rather, their interaction the previous day had given her the false assumption that a remainder of camaraderie still existed between them.

'I'm surprised you even know what honesty is,' the General folded the map and tapped it lightly on the table, before rising to his feet and moving away from her.

She bit back the words that came to the tip of her tongue. She could see, now, that his insistence on shunning her was his attempt of maintaining a professional distance between them. They weren't friends anymore. He was her custodian and she was his prisoner until he presented her and her grievances to the Emperor, nothing else. She couldn't deny the acknowledgement left a bitter taste in her mouth.

It was decided that they'd start the journey back to The Forbidden City later that same day after an early lunch. By the time they were set to leave, the sky that had been a light grey in the morning displayed black clouds that forewarned of rain sometime during the day.

They walked out of the room and exited the inn side by side, ignoring the odd looks from the patrons on the establishment. While the General talked to the stable boy, Sakura approached the black stallion she knew so well. It greeted her with a neigh of recognition and she smiled softly and stroke the horse's face, burying her fingers into its glossy mane.

Her stomach churned and she felt a pang of guilt as she thought of her own mare. She had left Yin at the wooded area around the orphanage and now had no idea what had become of her trusty companion. A healthy horse left unattended for so many days like that... It had probably been stolen already.

She heard the General's very distinctive tread as he approached her from behind and took a step back to look at him. Not for the first time, she could but admire the deftness with which he mounted on his steed. Once he had settled himself, Xiao Lang reached out for her, wordlessly ordering her mount with him.

Sakura furrowed her brow, looking from his hand to his face and back again. 'Are we going all the way back to The Forbidden City on only one horse?'

'You're light enough, without the armour on, that it'll make no difference,' was his curt reply. 'Give me your hand, at once.'

Xiao Lang hoisted Sakura on her side once the hanfu kept her from mounting the saddle as a man would. He held her well secured in between his arms before clicking his tongue to prompt his horse into an easy trot to finally start their journey.

She made a point of ignoring the way her traitorous heart started racing as they rode away; her back pressed to his chest, the motion of the horse shifting their bodies a bit too close for comfort.

Aiming to get some semblance of distance from him, Sakura kept her back in a straight rod position. 'It'd be a faster journey if you allowed me to ride by myself,' she remarked, feeling a flush of embarrassment rise to her cheeks. 'More comfortable, too.'

'And why exactly should I care about your convenience?' He harrumphed in mockery. 'And I already said I'm not going to facilitate your flight, Kinomoto.'

'I didn't think you held me in such high esteem, General,' she rolled her eyes, giving him a scathing retort. 'I know perfectly well that it'd be useless trying to flee from you,' she heaved a sigh, getting tired of his snappish tone. 'You are, after all, a far better rider than me.'

'I'm better than you at everything, Kinomoto,' he declared, as cocksure as ever. 'That's why I'm a General.'

'Didn't you say I've become a Captain at a younger age than you?' she inquired with a cheeky lilt to her voice. 'I bet I could've made it as a General earlier as well.'

'If you were a man and carried on being trained by me, then, yes, you could have,' Xiao Lang answered without hesitation. 'That was my plan for Touya all along.'

'It's odd that you just plain admit it like that,' she observed, a little taken aback. 'You are, after all, too proud to accept that anyone might be be better than you.'

'And why is that? An apprentice's achievements are their master's merit, just the same,' he sounded baffled that she didn't seem to understand that. 'Besides, I have no interest in rewards. I was tasked by the Lord of Ten Thousand Years to produce a powerful army of exceptional warriors. Touya's success would just be the testament of a duty well done and there could be no greater honour, despite what the arrogant fools at the Court might think about it.'

She looked at him over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow and mirth in her eyes. 'You say that as if you weren't just as haughty as the men at His Majesty's Court.'

He narrowed his eyes at her, bothered by her comparison. Knowing that she was only trying to goad him on for whatever reason, though, he pointedly ignored her.

Sakura chuckled quietly and turned her eyes back to the road ahead of them. 'Regardless, I'm truly honoured to know that you favoured me so,' she said as she thoughtfully bit her lip. 'Though considering that Touya's promotion wasn't due to a great physical prowess, can you really claim that my achievements are related to anything other than my mind and spirit, Sir?'

He could only gaze at her in astonishment, unable to find a fault in her argument there. He had to admit that she was quite clever... For a woman. He buried that thought for later consideration and focused on the way.

After a while, he felt her relax in his arms, her back flush against his chest. Upon further inspection, he noticed that her eyes were closed and her breathing was somewhat even. It seemed like she had fallen asleep, in spite of the bustle caused by the trotting of the horse.

It was no surprise, really. She was, after all, still weakened by her illness. The truth is that he wasn't entirely set on leaving the inn yet; however, being alone with her and having her half-naked in front of him as he tended to her injury… It was starting to be too much for him to bear.

Holding the reins one-handed, he set her better against his chest and ran his hand over her hair and her cheek. "Just checking for a fever," he thought to himself, as he took a deep breath, inhaling the floral scent from her tawny hair. Still blissfully asleep, she just snuggled into his embrace, soaking up in his body heat.

Throughout the rest of the day, the weather had threatened rain but fortunately held firmly cloudy, turning the travel strangely sombre. The silence didn't help, either and at a few points, the General wished Kinomoto were awake to fill the heavy taciturnity.

The sun was starting to set when he decided to rest for the day. He guided the horse into the woods, some ten minutes out of the main road. After some consideration, he chose to stop at a clearing where they'd be somewhat sheltered against the weather, as it was sheltered by the thick canopy of trees. Only then, he woke the girl up.

As they dismounted, they had to walk around the area for a bit to take the stiffening out of their legs before setting the watchfire to spend the night there. Before losing what little light they had left, he tended to her injury.

The bandage change was a silent undertaking. She was stronger and therefore had better control over her pain, even if redressing the wound still stung like it was on fire. She could feel the sharp sting of tears behind her eyelids as he prodded around the injury to clean it before applying a new sheathing of the ointment, yet her pride demanded that she didn't cry in front of him.

She couldn't help feeling conflictingly grateful by the distraction the proximity to his body provided as he leaned over her to swathe her waist. And it worked both ways, too. Her pain would be a good excuse to the shiver that passed through her frame whenever his warm breath caressed her neck. Or when his chin brushed on her shoulder.

She couldn't pretend to draw no pleasure from those little touches, despite the discomfort caused by the pain. And deeply she was aware of them being anything but casual. Yet, she went along with it, pretending not to notice what he was doing as he pretended nothing happened.

As he finished bandaging her, he stepped away, allowing her to fix the top of the hanfu back onto her shoulders. She, then, curled up near the fire, hugging her knees to protect herself from the cold breeze as she watched the General portion the food they'd brought from the inn. They ate in remarkably comfortable silence.

Sakura sighed still tired in spite of having slept most of the way there and furrowed her brows at what she could see of the sky. 'There are no stars in sight,' she mentioned, pinching her nose. 'It might rain soon.'

Xiao Lang raised his eyes to the sky as well. 'It has been threatening rain the whole day,' he pointed out. 'Anyway, the nearest village is at least half a day away, so it'll serve no purpose to travel during the night,' He shrugged, stifling a yawn. He stood up, walking around the clearing and went to tend to his horse. 'Let's just hope it doesn't pour and the trees keep us mostly dry.'

'Here's hoping,' she breathed quietly, letting the words be drowned by the howl of the wind and the rustle of the trees.

Sakura got up to stretch her legs for a moment, before moving closer to one of the larger trees there with the thicker top and sitting by its trunk in hopes of protecting herself from the elements as best as possible.

Rain began to slowly drizzle down from the dark night sky, falling upon them in a numbing stream. Xiao Lang approached Sakura, sitting beside her and leaning against the same tree as her. He tried to relax by rolling his shoulders, one at a time and feeling them snap with a sigh.

Differently from Sakura, he was exhausted. Not only because of the journey. He didn't get much sleep at the inn, either, while she convalesced. What, with having to squeeze himself on that damned armchair or lying down on the floor.

If he was being honest, he hadn't slept well before finding her, either. When he set out towards Yuhan after talking to Daidouji, he was so fixated in finding Kinomoto that nothing else had mattered. He did not think. He simply rushed to catch up with her. And it had been providential that he'd done so. She would not have resisted much longer.

Now that he had her, he couldn't chance to lose her for being reckless. He had to proceed with caution. He absentmindedly watched as the fire was slowly extinguished by the light shower. Everything ached all of a sudden as fatigue seeped into his weary bones and he lied his head back against the tree, closing his eyes before sighing. Were it not the risk of her running away, he'd take the opportunity to rest for a bit.

He heard a little shuffling beside him and opened his eyes, watching Kinomoto as she hugged her knees tightly. She was shaking like a leaf. Though she was wearing a winter hanfu, women clothing wasn't designed to be worn outdoors. Not like his military garb. With a sigh of resignation, he shucked his cloak from his shoulders and draped it around her shrunk frame to keep her warm.

Sakura looked at him, meeting his eyes and holding his gaze for what felt like a long moment before looking away in silence. She was thankful but was too proud to express it in words. He was fine with that, though. He didn't need her gratitude.

Sakura kept an eye on him as he went back to perusing the clearing and noticed how he kept blinking his eyes blearily and stifling his yawns. By the third time she saw him nod off and jerk immediately awake, she took pity on him. 'You may rest at ease, General,' she suggested softly with more fondness dripping in her voice than she intended to. 'I'll take the night watch.'

'Humph,' he grunted, shaking his head though there was no real bite in his words. 'And allow you to escape while I sleep? No, thank you.'

She rolled her eyes, huffing in exasperation. 'Why would I run away in the rain on a moonless night? I'm a woman, General. I've always been a woman. I didn't suddenly become unintelligent just because you found it out!'

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 'You were raised on this region…'

'Yes, locked up inside the house, just as any other girl,' she waved at him dismissively. 'Are you so tired you can't even think straight anymore?' she inquired, the pitch of her voice increasing slightly in impatience. She shook her head, clearing her throat. 'If you keep pushing yourself like this, you'll get sick, Sir,' she reasoned, taking a deep breath to calm herself. 'You know very well that it's practically impossible to navigate through the night without the moon or the stars to guide ourselves. Isn't that why you took us away from the main road, in the first place?'

He didn't reply to her argument one way or another; an awkward silence settled between them until Xiao Lang yawned once more while rubbing his eyes.

'General,' she let out a long, deep exhalation, wrapping the cloak tightly around herself. 'You know very well how dangerous this region is. It's overflowing with criminals and the Shanghai rejects after we took back the City Guard Office,' she reminded him. 'You need to be alert on the chance we run into thugs.' Her voice tone was practically imploring. 'I can keep watch while you sleep. Please.'

He looked at her for several minutes, his mind going all over the place as he mulled over what to do.

'I'll still be here in the morning. I swear it, Sir,' she insisted.

Xiao Lang shook his head, slightly, his eyes closing heavily as he tried to stifle another yawn. He looked at her for a moment longer. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe she had finally broken him and managed to make him lose his mind but he was willing to trust her to still be there the next morning. He didn't say anything but allowed himself to slouch against the trunk of the tree and didn't resist when his eyes slowly drooped. In almost no time, his breathing got steadier and deeper as he fell fast asleep.

Sakura gazed at him and noticed the way his shoulders had relaxed. She felt at peace with only the sound of his breathing and the cadence of the rain splatting on the leaves of the trees surrounding them. She bit her lip and raised her hand, hesitating for a moment before taking a lock of hair from his face with the tip of her fingers.

'Have a good night, General,' she whispered softly before sitting back straight to follow through the watch.

Xiao Lang guided his stallion at an easy trot through the road. His charge was pressed against his chest, held tightly in his arms as she dozed off. Muttering something under her breath, she nestled better in his arms and he could but smile as he nuzzled on the top of her head.

He'd woken up at dawn, startled about falling in a deeper sleep than he'd thought possible, and found her standing up a couple steps ahead of him. He immediately took notice that she had taken his sword during the night and when questioned about it, she just shrugged giving it back to him while reporting that she had decided to secure the perimeter once the rain had stopped and thought it better to take precaution in case she encountered any bandits.

He would never admit to feeling a lump in his throat at the thought that she had every opportunity to kill him as he slept. She had also gotten the chance of escaping him – and with his horse, nonetheless – as she took it to a shallow brook close by so the animal could drink some water as she refilled their waterskins. And yet she didn't.

He felt a shiver run down his spine and tightened his hold on her, just slightly, breathing in the scent of her hair – the flowery perfume had almost vanished and the night spent at the forest in the rain had caused it to soak up with the blend of a wooden-ish scent and petrichor – before looking back up to watch the road ahead of them.

He was aware that a long absence from The Forbidden City would result in a lot of questions about his whereabouts. A lot more inquiry than he was willing to answer. And yet he couldn't find it in himself the inclination to hasten.

The war against the Huns had ended and what was waiting for him at the Court at the moment was empty celebrations and void decorations. All and all things that he couldn't care less if he tried. He was glad to let the frivolities pass without his presence. Let the Lords at the Imperial Court get drunk and sing praises to themselves as if they'd had anything to do with their victory.

It didn't matter anyway. Not when the Army lost Captain Kinomoto.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. When they'd finally arrived at The Forbidden City and he reported that Kinomoto Touya was actually a woman, all of Captain Kinomoto's feats and accomplishments would probably be expunged from History, forgotten in order to wipe off the dishonour of having a woman join the army. That was not to mention whatever punishment the Emperor might deem she deserved.

He had to take a deep breath, trying to disperse the pained throbbing in his chest.

Holding the reins with one hand, he raised his free arm and steadied her in his embrace, bringing her closer to his chest. He couldn't understand why the thought of something happening to her bothered him so much. He shouldn't care. He shouldn't feel as conflicted as he did. She broke the law, therefore, she was a criminal and deserved to be punished. She'd been lying to him for as long as he knew her, therefore, she wasn't to be trusted. He should hate her... However, he didn't.

No, he couldn't. And as much as she infuriated him, he longed for the companionship. Even now, with her asleep in his arms, he felt melancholy like he was missing on something due to her silence.

He sighed tiredly and decided to stay overnight at the next village so that they could rest properly. It was a testament to how tired she was that she even could sleep on the back of a horse. He also needed to buy more medicine and bandages before following through with their journey.

Straightening up over his steed, he moved his hand to the small of her back, feeling the way her ribs bit into his arm. She had lost a lot of weight while running away and was looking somewhat gaunt with her cheekbones slightly more prominent than it had been when she was a soldier. At an inn, she'd eat better than at the road and she needed the nourishment.

The angry clopping of several hooves and the fast whir of wheels from behind them brought him back to the present and he frowned as his body tensed up. That region was, after all, overrun by thugs and it would be a wonder if they didn't cross paths with at least one gang during their travel. Taking a minute decision, he moved out of the road and into the surrounding forest, guiding his horse toward some high bushes to remain out of sight just as frantic voices reached his ears.

'Kinomoto,' he shook her by her shoulder, waking her up.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and yawned, sitting up to look at the General. She immediately took notice of his tense shoulders and furrowed brows and knew that something was wrong. It didn't take her long to guess what was happening as the sound of frenetic bustle approached them.

'Shit,' she muttered, suddenly wide awake. She knew exactly what all that fuss meant, though she had no idea whether the General would interfere. 'What are we gonna do?' she asked quietly.

'Let's survey the situation, first,' he replied automatically, waiting for the cause of the turmoil to show up.

His horse huffed, getting restless and Kinomoto immediately rubbed its neck, calming it down, just as an elaborately gilded carriage pulled by four horses made a sharp curve, almost tumbling down with its passengers inside. He swore under his breath as he saw that the coach was followed by a group of Imperial guards who were trying to slow down and shake off what was clearly an experienced pack of road thieves.

He spurred his horse to move after them through the forest and halted again just before the next turn of the road. By then, one of the bandits had jumped onto the carriage, taking down the coachman and stopping the coach a few meters ahead. He had counted ten bandits and in the time it took him to dismount his horse and unsheathe his sword, they'd took complete control of the situation, easily defeating the unseasoned soldiers who were escorting the carriage.

The General furrowed his brow, twisting his mouth into a scowl. 'Stay hidden,' he ordered her, handing her the reins of his horse.

Sakura stared him in the eyes for a moment, her back straightening up as her whole body language turned into something fierce. 'They've killed Imperial soldiers,' she murmured briskly with a frown as she swiftly dismounted beside him.

Before he could even think of arguing, she had already pulled his bow from the saddle and tied the quiver around her waist.

He squinted his eyes, watching as she swiftly nocked an arrow, pointed at the ground, and nodded at him, ready to act on his signal. Xiao Lang looked at her for a couple seconds, then he took a deep breath and signalled for them to get moving. They slowly crept their way toward where the bandits were forcibly pulling a scared couple out of their carriage and roughening up the two or three soldiers still alive.

Sakura could feel her heart drumming inside her chest as they approached the thugs and she recognized the odd frenzy that threatened to overcome her whole body if she allowed it. Taking a deep breath to hush her mind and get focused, she felt her senses sharpening and her awareness heightening as she remained in control. They were two soldiers taking up ten jaded, merciless fighters. Their victory was hanging heavily on the surprise element and if they lost their window, they might not be able to get out of the fight alive.

They've taken a few moments to analyse the field and exchanged a brief glance, nodding to one another - understanding flowing effortlessly between them in the matters of war. Her face muscles were taut with tension as she pulled the bow to full draw, aiming at the only man of the bunch who carried a firearm. Then she waited for his signal.

The first arrow hit her target right on the neck and fell the man before anyone even knew that something had happened.

With an expert fluidity in her movements, she readied another arrow and fired at the thug closest to the couple, though a brief hesitancy out of fear of hitting the hostages caused her to hit the man in a non-lethal way. She cursed under her breath, readying another one and taking him down before turning to some thugs that were closing in on them.

Before Xiao Lang even had the chance to approach the men that had been clobbering the surviving soldiers, she'd already shot down the tree bandits that had been an immediate threat to the hostages before they could think of using them as human shields.

The General watched as three thugs charged at him brandishing their swords expertly. The men were fast and skilled and, if he were a lesser soldier, they'd have taken him down easily.

He quickly parried the first attack and turned his body to dodge the swipe of the second sword, as he smashed his heel on the knee of the third ruffian. When the third man, whose leg was now broken, doubled over with a yowl of pain, he used his momentum to throw him on the second of his companions, successfully using him as a shield to avoid the sword that came on his direction. He almost didn't manage to avoid the thrust of the first thug, being grazed on the arm before rolling to his back and piercing him from behind.

With the corner of his eyes, he saw the second of his opponents getting near him from behind and felt his blood freeze as his blade was still buried in the guts of his previous foe. Before he could even react, though, he heard the hissing of an arrow and saw the man fall with an arrow sticking out of his neck.

Slightly wide-eyed, he looked toward Kinomoto but shook his head with a smirk on his lips at how accurate her aim was. He really shouldn't be surprised, though. "Touya" had become a proficient archer, after all.

He pulled the blade from the corpse in front of him and turned to where the four remaining thugs gawked slack-jawed at the two strangers who just took down the six more experienced men of the pack in a matter of minutes. 'I suggest that you drop your weapons,' He frowned, heaving a sigh at the fact that they were barely men. 'Unless you want to meet the same fate as the others.'

One of them looked from him to Kinomoto and sneered, finding some kind of foolish backbone. 'I don't take orders from a man who needs a woman to protect him.'

Xiao Lang didn't even have time to answer to that as an arrow pierced the boy's hand that was holding his sword.

'I've got five more arrows, tough guy,' Sakura seethed at him. 'One for each of your friends and two more with which to pierce your nether parts,' she remarked off-handedly, with another arrow already locked in place. 'I guarantee that when I'm done with you, you'll be begging me to kill you,'

'It'd be smart not to antagonize her, kid,' the General scoffed as his lips curled contemptuously. 'Women can be crueller than men.'

The boy-man stared furiously at her while holding the hand that had the arrow stuck. 'You whore,' he hissed through bared teeth before falling to the ground with an arrow sticking out from his left eye.

'Oops,' she sneered, redirecting her aim toward the three boys remaining. 'It slipped...' she said not sorry at all.

'It was deserved,' Xiao Lang conceded, shaking his head. 'But you shouldn't make threats you don't plan to follow through,' he mentioned, turning his attention to the bandits.

She harrumphed. 'It would be such a waste of arrows, though,' she muttered.

'True enough,' he shrugged with a smirk.

The three surviving thugs - kids, really - exchanged glances between them and dropped their weapons, deciding to surrender. Smart boys!

To be Continued.

Minor editing on January 11th, 2020.