Chapter 3: Queen Jun's Kindness
Disclaimer: Tekken and its characters DON'T belong to me!
"Queen Jun, the prince has returned!" spoke the good-natured young servant girl.
"Thank you Miharo, you may go now!" said queen Jun, handing Miharo a little purse of money.
Miharo accepted the money gratefully and bowed down before the queen. Then she walked out of the grandly dressed room.
"Son…who is this…girl you have brought?" asked king Kazuya curiously, pointing at Xiao.
"Her name is 'Xiaoyu.' She was one of the soldiers in the army we destroyed, and was the sole survivor. She is…a…very talented worrier, I have battled with her myself, and she has been able to block many of my moves!" Jin replied, standing straight and in a pose with his sword in his hand.
Two officers brought Xiaoyu forward; she looked weak and tired. Her colourless face and her blooded up kneecap showed what her treatment was.
Queen Jun entered the large palace court in her splendour. She wore a white spotless silk gown and a large light blue cloak trailed behind her.
"How could the Chinese army allow a female fighter within them?" she asked, directing the question at Xiaoyu.
Xiao was forced down to bow to the queen.
"They don't…I snuck in!" she retorted, trying to get back up on her feet.
King Kazuya stood up from his throne and walked towards his wife, taking her hands in his own.
"Son, since you are next to the throne…what do you wish to do with her?"
Jin pursed his lips together tightly and brought his swords tip under Xiao's chin.
"Mother, she is a present from me to you. She is your servant!"
Xiao got up slowly with Jin's sword still under her chin, ready to pierce her throat.
"I'm no ones servant!" she said fiercely.
Kazuya's face stayed calm at the remark, he slowly took out his own sword and twirled it around.
The blade was light as a feather…yet as hard as diamonds! Its sheath was made from dragon scales that were once shed by the great lord of dragons. The scales had been neatly stitched together with strong thin metal threads; only the finest tailor of Japan could create such a masterpiece!
Then with a flash of fury he slashed a strange mark into Xiao's left arm, leaving a large gash with blood flowing from it.
"You're the servant of the royal palace now, that slash wound will become a everlasting scar; it will never leave you!" he said, thrusting his sword back into its scabbard.
Xiao bit her lip; ignoring the pain. She clutched her arm with her hand and put pressure on it to try to stop the bleeding.
The young maid that was tending to her wounds were gentle and seemed kind.
She applied the herbs quickly and carefully, taking away the dirt and blood.
"So, what was I like?" she asked, trying to stir up a little conversation between herself and the former worrier.
Xiao looked at Queen Jun's maiden with an amusing puzzlement around her.
"What?"
The servant smiled at her patient.
"I mean what was it like…being a soldier for the Chinese army?"
Xiao winced as Miharo wound the bandage round her knee and tightly knotted it.
"Well…its actually horrible!" she whispered, so that no one else could hear her. "The food is absolutely disgusting, and the training in the early morning is absolutely nasty!"
"Really? Well…then why did you sign up and pretend to be a …man?" Miharo asked.
"I only did it for…for revenge, that army that captured me slaughtered my home village, and everyone I knew…my parents my family…even my best friend, Lana…they were all murdered!" replied Xiao, her anger swelled up inside her and her hands clenched through revenge. "I swore to have my revenge someday…that's when I joined the army, I thought by doing it I could avenge the deaths in the village, maybe I was wrong, maybe I was just…too angry."
"Xiaoyu…could you go off and tell my son that his father is waiting for him at the Dojo Of Dragons please?" asked Jun anxiously.
Xiaoyu had been a servant to queen Jun for a month now, Jun realised that Xiao was a trustworthy maid and decided to give the young woman a bit of pay, it wasn't much at first but as Xiao got better and better at her job she had her pay risen.
Her new friend Miharo had been very helpful and had offered to show Xiao around the palace on her first day.
"Of course empress!" she said, bowing down to the wife of the king.
"Hey Xiao…where you goin?" asked Miharo eagerly, running to catch up with her newfound friend.
Xiao turned around and round.
"You wanna tag along?" she asked mischievously.
Miharo looked at Xiaoyu uncertainly, "I know that look Xiao! Where you going then?" she asked agitated.
"Just going to give a message to prince Jin," replied Xiao casually. "So…do you want to come or not?" she questioned impatiently.
Miharo shook her head. "He's in training…he'll probably command you to fight with him…I suggest you give him the message, then scarper!" advised the friend.
"And where will you be in the time being?"
"Oh, I'm off shopping, see you later!" Miharo waved to her friend and turned around and darted off.
Xiao sighed and started back to the path towards the dojo. "I wish I could go shopping," thought Xiao, imagining herself in a beautiful pearly pink silk dress.
The 'Tiger Dojo' was a private training place for only prince Jin.
It was a largish building just next to one of the palace gardens; it was enclosed off by large metal black gates and had two guards safeguarding it when the prince wasn't inside training.
The walls were made out of stone and seemed to glitter in the light. The inside was quite comfy and the floor had a tiger-patterned carpet on it.
As Xiao entered she gazed around at the room, its beauty amazed her.
"What are you doing here?" asked the prince, appearing out of nowhere and brandishing a sword.
"I…I came with a message from queen Jun. She says that King Kazuya is waiting for you at the Dojo Of Dragons," said Xiao as she stared at the magnificent collection of swords in the dojo.
Jin stared at Xiao's calm face and smiled.
"Wanna little battle before I go?" he asked curiously.
Xiao turned around and walked towards the door of the dojo. "No sir, I have some things to attend to!"
Jin grinned this time as he quickly grabbed a small dagger from its hook on the wall and threw it at the maiden.
Xiao felt a strange sensation on her palm of her hand. She dived sideways, only just missing the daggers blow.
Jin beckoned Xiao over; "I'm the prince, so you must obey what I say!"
Xiaoyu clenched her wrist in her left hand and walked over to the prince, her nerves were bouncing everywhere!
Her breathing was heavy and fierce; the blade in her hand felt like it was going to shatter every time she blocked one of his blows. She felt a sharp twinge rise through her whole body when she attacked, careful not to harm the prince in any way. Sweat rolled down her forehead and as she cart wheeled left and right, her front layout narrowly missed the kick of the prince.
She landed on her feet with her hands touching the ground in a racing start off sort of pose. Just as the weapon soared through the air she caught it in her right hand.
Her head looked up and her eyes were bent on her target, concentrating hard to figure a course of attack and defend.
His breathing was exhilarating yet calm, a rush of excitement took over him with every blow he made. His own sword was tight in his hand and stayed strong, after all it was forged by fires of a volcano, or so they say!
"You're a pretty good fighter…lets try without a sword!" Jin said, digging his deeply into the carpet.
Xiao nodded and carefully hung her own sword up by a large fireplace.
They both stood facing opposite of each other; upon bowing respectfully the unarmed combat began!
Jin attacked first, smashing his fist at Xiao, Xiao easily dodged the attack and side kicked him in his stomach.
Jin held his breath and performed his 'beam of lightning' attack, summoning up lightning beam and sending it directly at his opponent (that is a made up move, there will be quite a few of them). Xiao dived to the side of the room, just in time in avoiding the blast of the furious attack.
Her eyes continued to spark up in determination. She concentrated half of her power on her own type of energy blast, combining both her fire fury and her fortune cookie together was a deadly attack combo, but one that was unblock able!
Prince Jin was sent flying halfway across the room.
He stayed still for a minute. Xiao felt that she ought to go and check to see if he was ok, but she felt weak and tired.
"Looks like I win!" she muttered, walking towards the door.
Just as he hand touched the doors handle she heard a scramble. She slowly turned around, only to see prince Jin jump onto his feet, in his hands he was summoning a strange ball of energy, it was electricity! However this ball of electricity that was being summoned was huge!
She blinked in disbelief, as she opened her eyes she felt a full force of the energy smash into her. She felt a pain worse hen being stabbed; it was like having five arrows darted into her. She opened her mouth to cream, but nothing came out!
As she dropped to the floor she could her Jin laughing loudly. Without warning her eyes seemed to flare up, it seemed like fire was burning in them.
"I summon you know, phoenix my guardian, give me your power to stand!" she whispered. Upon feeling a force of calmness she stood up a little shaky.
"I'm not down yet!" she said clearly.
"You will be!" Jin replied.
One moment Xiao was standing, the next she felt the wind being knocked down from her and her back smashing down to the ground.
"Nobody beats me!" whispered prince Jin in Xiao's ear.
Writers Note
THANX for all of the reviews so far! checks review section ! WOW! Thats the most i ever got from two chapters!I hope u like the one! I just couldn't resist addin some new moves, combinin fire/electricty...i wounder wot kind of power/element Jun and Kazuya and Miharo shud have!Anywhy, sos for makin you all wait sooo long for this chapter, but i hope i can get the next one up quicker!