Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Tekken and its characters don't belong to me! They belong to Namco!

Xiao felt herself tremor with shock.

"Princess Chang!" she whispered before bowing down. She blushed a deep reddish pink.

"You may leave servant!" commanded Princess Julia.

Xiao got up immediately and bowed low again before disappearing off out of the dojo.

Princess Julia shut the door firmly and stared at Prince Jin, waiting for an explanation.

"Julia…we were just practicing!" insisted Prince Jin, carefully wiping his brow with a clean cloth.

Julia smiled at Jin. "I guess you weren't expecting me!"

In the morning:

"Xiao…Xiao!" yelled Mi, shaking her friend by the shoulders.

Xiao yawned and rubbed her eyes, "what is it?"

Miharu threw Xiao's formal clothes at the young woman. "Just get changed!" she instructed.

Xiao nodded her head and watched as Miharu fled from the room alarmingly quickly.

Xiao reached out and carefully put on the clothes. The maroon skirt reached down to the floor and neatly covered her bare feet. The light brown shirt had a semi circle shaped neckline; the sleeves flowed down to her wrists and were quite baggy. A pair of dark brown sandals completed the outfit. Neatly she tied her hair back into a Chinese plait.

As soon as Xiao was ready she popped her head out of the door, only to have herself being pushed back into the room. "What's wrong?"

Miharu looked up at Xiao's hair. "No…it's not supposed to be in that style Ling…put it right, and move it!"

Xiao stood with her hands placed on her hips, "what style then?"

Mi grabbed Xiao's brush from a small table and took out Xiao's plaits, and then she brushed the hair smoothly and started to braid it carefully yet quickly. When she was finished she looked back for a second to admire her handiwork.

Xiao's hair was in one single plait, six large clumps of hair entwined as a braid, along with a little dark highlight that ran through the middle.

Xiao smiled at her friend nervously. "What's happening?"

"You've been called to the king and queens presence…get going…there in the throne room!"

Xiao grinned and bowed to Mi childishly, before dodging yet another slipper as she disappeared out of the room.

She walked solemnly deep in thought.

Eventually she came to the throne room, the large oaken doors were open, as she walked through two of the guards appeared and crossed over two axes so she couldn't walk through.

"Please sirs, I have been told to see King Kazuya and Queen Jun!"

The two soldiers shook their metal covered faces. "We have not been told, so you shall not enter servant!"

"Let her pass guards!" ordered Prince Jin, as he walked towards them.

The two guards mumbled between themselves and quickly took down the axes and swung them back to their sides.

Xiao looked past Jin and walked forwards, she was scared deep inside!

"Do you know why you have been summoned?" asked the young prince, keeping his walking distance a little way ahead of her as custom for a prince to do when walking near a servant.

She looked at her skirt nervously and pretended to take out a crease in it. "No."

Prince Jin sighed. "I haven't been told either!"

Xiao and Jin stayed silent for a second.

"Its bad?"

Jin stopped suddenly and tuned around to face Xiao. "What do you mean?"

"I mean; I'm in trouble…serious trouble…right?"

Jin shook his head. "I don't know!" he muttered, starting to walk again but much faster then before.

Xiao stumbled on her skirt and fell to her knees clumsily. Prince Jin turned around and walked over to Xiao, he held out his hand.

Xiao pushed his hand out of the way and wiped away her worry inside her. Prince Jin muttered under his breath and pulled his hand back to his side.

"Prince Jin Mishima…and servant" the middle aged king spoke loudly.

He looked down at his son with a straight face, and then he stared down at Xiao with hatred steaming in his eyes.

Xiao stared at the floor, studying its amazingly detailed patterns. Quickly she bowed down with her head touching the floor in respect for the king and queen of Japan.

Queen Jun smiled at her son and then looked at Xiao with a reassuring smile.

Xiao catched a glimpse of Queen Jun dressed in a beautiful sunrise coloured gown with small sequins dancing reflections upon the walls of the room.

Xiao silently prayed as she heard the king talk to two of his royal guards.

King Kazuya dismissed his guards and stood up tall. His black cloak trailed on the floor.

"A source of mine told me she had seen both you Jin Mishima and you servant in the Tiger Dojo, apparently you were both training together!"

Prince Jin looked up straight into his father's eyes. "Father, forgive me!"

Queen Jun stood up beside her husband and placed her hand in his.

"My son, your punishment is that you can't go outside for a whole month! That means you won't be able to go to the grand feast of the year."

Prince Jin opened his mouth as if to argue with his parents but then closed it again.

Kazuya looked down at Xiao and rested his cruel and angry gaze on her.

"You will receive the punishment that would be given to any servant for the insolence of your actions."

Xiao forced her self to her knees so that she had a clear view of what was going on.

"You are to be locked up in the room of severe punishment at dawn tomorrow, you will have to stay there without food or water of any kind for a whole day."

Prince Jin's jaw nearly gaped in horror, but he pulled himself together just in time. "Father…isn't that being severe?"

King Kazuya sat back down.

"She should be thankful it's only a day!" he retorted.

Queen Jun sat down beside Kazuya. "Please darling!"

"I'm sorry Jun, but my decision has been made! If she survives, she will be allowed back to her jobs with no more punishment."

When the meeting had finally been dismissed Xiao stood up quite shakily and ran to the servants quarters as fast as she could.

"Stop Xiao!" Prince Jin grabbed Xiao by the shoulder and forced her to face him.

Xiao wanted to punch him hard in the face, but she restrained herself. "Thanks…thanks allot!" she whispered before wriggling out of Jin's grasp and running along the corridor.

"Hey, Xiao…what happened?"

"Apparently I'm getting punished at dawn…I have to stay in the room of punishment for a whole day!" Xiao whispered, sitting down on her bed.

Mi stared in shock at Xiao.

Xiao immediately got up as soon as she sat down. "Come on…there's someone I need you to meet!"

A black and white patched panda approached the two servants, her movements showed that she was tense and uneasy bout the second servant of whom she had never seen or met before.

"Mi…I'd like you to meet Panda!" whispered Xiao, approaching the bulky bear and giving her a small hug.

Miharu gaped her jaw open in alarm. "Your full of surprises you know…that's the bear that the prince goes out hunting for.

Xiao grinned at Mi. "That's why you mustn't tell another soul about her! Her life depends on it." Xiao looked up at her friend only to see Mi looking a little worried and flustered. "Don't worry, she's as gently as a kitten, she can't hurt you unless you make her angry!"

Mi nodded in agreement and approached Panda carefully. She bent down and reached out to stroke the panda. "Wow, she almost tame!"

"Not really…she trusts me…and now she trusts you too, seen as you're my best friend."

Xiao carefully took out a sugarcane stick and wavered it in front of Panda, and then she broke the tick in half and gave Miharu half of the sweet stick. "Feed this to Panda, go on!" she encouraged.

Mi grinned and let the sugarcane balance on her outstretched palm and lowered it so that it was in front of Panda's face. Panda reached out her right forepaw and carefully picked up the stick, then she placed it in her moth and rested her head on the floor; she wrestled with getting the sweet and savouring flavour from it.

"She's adorable!"

Xiao grinned, then quickly she placed her half of the sugarcane on her lap. "Watch!" she whispered.

Mi looked up deeply at Panda. Eventually the Panda looked up at the other sugarcane. Then Panda reached out with her right paw yet again and grabbed the sugarcane.

In The servants quarters

"So…who exactly is Princess Julia Chang?"

Mi looked up. "She's the princess who has been betrothed to Prince Jin. Personally, I don't think she actually loves the Prince, I mean, I've seen her flirting with a general…think it was, Hworang, yup! The Prince's rival!"

Xiao nodded her head seriously and yawned.

"You know…the room your punishment is in, I've heard that every servant who goes through there never comes out alive…just a warning, I think there is some sort of creature in it, I once seen a servant with huge scratch marks on his back, apparently they looked like a bear's marks!"

"I have heard of it Mi…but nothing can change what's going to happen tomorrow morning, I guess we'd better get some sleep."

Mi frowned. "Aren't you worried?"

Xiao shook her head solemnly. "I fought Prince Jin's army on mostly my own, I think going up against some sort of monster won't be as bad as that!" she pointed out. "Just do me a favour, if i don't come out alive, kep an eye on Panda..."

The two friends then settled down into their beds.

Writers Note:

Ok, that about wraps it for before the punishment Xiao's going to get! I'm sure Jin feels guilty bouts it too, considering he gets off lightly!

I know there have been odd moments with Xiao and Jin, romantic moments that is, its cause their actually…very slowly falling in love! But as you know, a prince can't marry a servant, it is against the law!

Who should I pair Miharu up with? Steve maybe!