Chapter 10: Plotting A Plan

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

The Night Before The grand Dance And Feast

"General Hwoarang!" ordered Kazuya ruthlessly.

"Yes sire," Hwoarang bowed

"Prepare your troops, and tell Prince Jin he is to leave for the battlefield along with his troops a weeks time!"

"Very well!"

Her elegant light pink cotton dress lay on her small bed. She sighed and reached out to touch it. It was a luxury she would have thought she'd never see again after the loss of her families' farm. A medium sized golden sash lay by the side of her bed, almost waiting to be touched an admired for its beauty. Her hand held back by a centimetre.

"Who's is this?" she asked out aloud.

"Its yours Xiao, the queen has ordered that each servant can buy a new cotton dress of any colour. I knew your favourite colours were pink and red, so I decided to use your money to buy it for you." Mi smiled at the dress. "Do you like it?" She asked nervously.

"I love it!" whispered Xiao, turning around and hugging her best friend. "Thank you so much."

Mi carefully picked up the dress and held it towards Xiao. "So, now that your dress is fixed, what do you think of mine?"

Xiao looked at the other dress that lay on Miharu's bed. It was a plain cotton light purple with a dark purple sash. "I think it suits you really well!"

Mi grinned at Xiao. "Something is still missing though!" she said lifting the dress and inspecting its back carefully.

Xiao walked towards the small crooked table and took a silk purple ribbon from it. "Here…"

"Thanks. Hey, it like an exact match for what been missing, all I need to do is to decide how to put it in my hair."

"Son, I hope your not about to sneak off to go to the dance!" questioned Queen Jun, inspecting her son's room for any signs.

"Please, I have better things to do…like getting prepared to march into enemy lines and fight the Chinese."

Queen Jun sighed sadly. "Well, I'll better go and start to supervise the dance then!"

Just as Queen Jun shut the door Prince Jin took away the covers from his bead to reveal a very smart English style suit. First the white shirt with a silver border went on, next his black neat trousers, and then last he put on a majestic black cloak. Then, he carefully put a mask over his face; he hoped it would hide his identity from everyone.

The Dance

Miharu walked straight into someone. When she looked up she felt her heart miss a beat. Her hand started to feel shaky and she felt quite worried. "Sorry sir," She whispered, just as she turned to leave the area she felt his hand clutch her wrist, she turned around to face the same man but he was smiling down at her.

"Would you like a dance?" he asked.

"Thank you sir!" she said, clearing away the fear.

General Steve Fox politely bowed at her and then they started to dance. Her dress whirled around showing off its purple colours. The sash and the dress blending together quite neatly.

"So, what's your name?" he asked curiously.

"Miharu, and your General…" She didn't get to finish her sentence for Steve had placed a finger over her mouth.

"Just call me Steve."

Mi nodded, slightly flustered but actually enjoying the dance. "Surly you have some other important lady to dance with?"

Steve shook his head. "Their too fussy for me, your more my type…you know, your previous date was one of my troops…I heard what he did to you…"

"What? So now I'm a charity case?"

"No…just I've had my eye on you for a while, kind of didn't have the courage to ask you out."

"What, so you can charge into battle and cut down so many people yourself and even risk your own life…but you think its even harder then that to ask someone like me out…a mere commoner!"

"Your not a commoner though are you, Miharu…the daughter of Zang Tain!"

"How do you know?" she whispered, feeling edgy about Steve.

"I have my sources," he whispered.

"What do you want?" she hissed, ready to run away as soon as possible, that was until she felt Steve's grip tighten on her hand.

"To know the real you!" he whispered, smiling at her.

Mi softened quite a bit; as the music started to go slower she rested her head on his strong shoulder. "Thank you!" she whispered.

Xiao smiled at her friend dancing with General Steve Fox.

"I hope this seat isn't taken!"

Xiao turned around to see a masked face looking straight at her and gesturing to the chair beside her. Xiao shrugged her shoulders in reply. She knew he was watching her carefully, she could almost sense something strange about him though, something daunting.

"Like a dance?" he asked her, standing up and holding out a white-gloved hand for her.

Xiao smiled nervously and took his hand. As soon as her hand took his she felt a kind of burning feeling in the tips of her fingers. She tried not to flinch and carefully followed the man to the dance floor. "There's something odd about him!" she thought.

The music was quite slow still and she felt slightly hesitant to put her head on his shoulder like she'd seen Miharu do. When she did she felt nothing.

He smiled inside, thinking he had finally lured her for his plans. Without a word he stroked her glossy black hair, it was all straight and like silk. He was amazed at the fact that a woman who could fight with the ferciousity of a wildcat would be so beautiful and graceful. Inside something was telling him to destroy her as soon as possible, to get her out f the way! Yet how could he, every time he attacked her in the dojo he felt like he was doing something wrong, hitting a young woman! He remembered when he first saw her after the battle; she looked like she was already half dead! His other hand trailed up her left arm, where a large imperial scar was. The scar wasn't as big as his own, but it seemed to have been just as painful when the blade struck.

She wanted to flinch away when his finger touched the middle of her scar, she wanted to scream out, but she kept silent, listening to her breathing and the music.

"Want to…go outside?" he asked.

"Ok!" she agreed, following the stranger to one of the large courts of the palace.

In The Court

She could hear other footsteps, around her; she let go of the stranger's hand and turned around. She gasped but then quickly got into her fighting stance. Surrounding her were ten well-armed and padded soldiers.

"Next time be careful!" he whispered into her ear.

She turned around for a brief moment and nearly screamed, Prince Jin unsheathed hi sword and had it thrust down onto the ground.

"GET HER!" he commanded.

She turned around to see the soldiers charging towards her, with their swords, spears and axes held high. "Oh crap!" was all she muttered before plunging into the battle!

Writers Note:

Wouldn't you say 'oh crap' if you too were about to fight ten armed people!
Just to clear a few things up:
Firstly, I haven't written/posted in ages because of EXAMS! Yes, EXAMS!
Secondly, the fact that Xiao is about to have a huge fight is very cool! So you HAVE to read the chapter to find out if she looses or wins, knowing me…I am not really sure myself until I have finished the next chapter!
Thirdly the next chapter will try to be up ASAP.
Lastly Prince Jin's plan is going to be quite…yikes, or in other cases OMG!

Cya, got to go and revise!
henred5