A/N: Yay, this story has more than 200 views - the most yet! Does that mean people actually like it? I just reread Xun's past, and I realised he was collapsing every 5 minutes. Hmm. Anyway, here's the next chappie, this time complete with rulers! Enjoy!

Three years have passed, so I'll give you the ages of some people:

Na Mei: 17

Sying Long: 17

Lu Xun: 18

Sun Shang Xiang: 19

Ling Tong: 20

Gan Ning: 24

Disclaimer: I can't be bothered to think up anything witty. See the last 5 chapters.

"...So that's sorted, then. Any questions? Go get your armies ready, then."

Na Mei and Sying Long both stood, and walked back to the tent they were sharing.

"So... our first battle, then." Sying said. Na nodded, but didn't say anything. Sying looked at her. "You nervous?"

"Not very, but I can't shake off the feeling something is going to go wrong."

"... I know what you mean." Sying shook his head lightly, and looked up. "Hey, isn't that Lu Xun?"

"And Sun Shang Xiang."

The twins drew level with Xun and Shang Xiang, who started walking with them.

"You two nervous? First battle and all." Shang Xiang said merrily.

"Not so much nervous as... worried. But it might be nothing." Na replied.

"The first kill's the worst. And the stench will make you gag. But you get used to it." Xun said cheerily.

"Anyway, at least you two will get to fight. We're stuck in the main camp 'cause of that Gan Ning." Shang Xiang said, rolling her eyes.

"He sounds like a nasty piece of work." Sying agreed.

"But he should be no match for the two of you!" Xun said.

"You reckon? Even his own side is scared of him!" said Na.

"Don't worry about it, seriously. You've got both Ling Tong and Ling Cao to help you if you need it." said Shang Xiang.

"We'd better go get ready, anyway. At least we're both together." said Sying.

"Good luck, anyway. And just remember - it's you or them!" called Xun as they walked off in the direction of their armies.

When they were inside their tent, they set about strapping on all their armour and weapons. Neither wore helmets, instead wearing bands that held their hair out of their faces. Sying wore full length trousers with red flames sewn up the sides, and a top with sleeves that went no further than his elbows, while Na wore three-quarter length tight trousers with a short skirt over the top and similar flames to Sying's, and top identical to that of her brother's except it was cropped, and had a tiger sewn on where it had slashed her. Both wore wrist guards and plain black shoes.

Once they had finished dressing, they picked up their weapons - Na, her Twin Wonders, and Sying, his white Dragon Staff.

They walked out of the tent together towards the assigned clearing in the forest of the soldiers' tents. On the way, various officers offered them advice, and reassured them about the coming battle. They thanked them, and continued to where the ranks of soldiers waited.

When they drew near the clearing, they could see Zhou Yu talking to his troops. As they drew closer, he concluded his pep talk, and sent them off to their posts. He then walked over to the nervous twins.

"Your armies are over there. As it's your first battle, I'll watch and help you if needed."

They both nodded, before walking to the front of their units. Na took a deep breath, and launched into her pep talk.

"You probably know that this is our first battle, so I need you to back us up. This battle won't be easy, and the other team might be tough, but we're tougher! I don't want any of you making stupid mistakes that waste lives or time." She paused, before remembering something. "Just remember, either you get them or they get you. Now let's go show 'em what we've got!"

There was a collective cheer. Na smiled.

"Now, let's get to our posts before the enemy shows up!"

There was another cheer, and the soldiers filed out onto the battlefield. She glanced over at Sying to see that he had finished his pep talk, and was just sending his soldiers off. As they all filed out, Zhou Yu came over to join them.

"I see you have the hang of it. And don't worry when you're out there - you'll be fine. Now, let's go to our own posts." He smiled at them, and walked out after the soldiers. Na looked at Sying.

"Let's go get our horses." she said. Sying nodded, and they walked out of the clearing.

Lu Xun sat with his back to the tree. The main camp was positioned so they could see any threats before the threats saw them, so he had plenty of time to get ready.

He was thinking, as usual, of Na Mei. Over the last three years, she had matured into an attractive, strong-willed young woman. Xun was excellent at controlling his feelings, but he had to admit that it was getting harder whenever Na was around. He was sure it was love - but did she like him in the same way? The same agonising doubt was what had kept Xun from admitting his feelings. He was beginning to doubt that he ever would.

When he had confessed his past, all those months ago - if it had been anyone but Na, he wasn't sure he would have confessed. In fact, Na was the only one apart from himself who knew about his past. He wondered how his life would have been if Na hadn't come into it.

He sighed. Every day he had told himself that he was going to tell her, but whenever the opportunity came around, he had lost all his confidence. He wondered if Zhou Yu or Sun Ce had ever been in his situation. No, of course they wouldn't have, they were both braver than he ever would be...

He looked up at the overhung sky, and hoped that Na was ok.

On the other side of the main camp, Shang Xiang idly swung her legs from the tree branch she was perched on, humming tunelessly. Around her, the soldiers talked quietly. She wasn't particularly bothered what they did, as long as they were prepared for battle - if that was going to happen at all.

For some reason, her thoughts kept slipping to Sying Long. Every day since she had seen him at the training dummies, they had kept on bumping into each other. Every morning for the last couple of years, she had woken, looking forward to meeting Sying - in fact, she realised, that was the only thing she looked forward to.

She stopped humming as the realisation hit her. Was she in love?

...No, of course she wasn't. But how did she know? Her humming resumed as she turned the question over in her head. She knew she wasn't in love because she had never been in love before? But she had never felt this feeling before. For all she knew, it might be love. She could feel it intensify whenever Sying was around, and he was always in her dreams... so was it?

She shook her head. Whatever. She needed to be ready for if the enemy ever decided to turn up...

She wondered how Sying was getting on.

They had advanced further than expected. Na ducked a careless sword strike, and impaled the wielder. She then somersaulted back over the heads of her attackers, so they were in front of her. She spun, ducked, dodged, and slashed, until the last soldier toppled over, headless. She grimaced. That was something she didn't really need to see so soon...

She turned to see how her brother was doing. He was standing a slight distance from the rabble of soldiers, and was preparing a lightning bolt. Na could see an unnoticed soldier creep up behind him, sword raised, and a calculating look in his eyes. She didn't even stop to think, just taking off into a dead run at the soldier. He noticed her at the last second, although by then, it was too late. He looked from Na's face, down her arm, to where her weapon was sticking out of his chest, a look of surprise on his face. Na pulled her weapon out of the unfortunate soldier, and turned back to the battle just in time to see a lightning bolt spear down out of the clouds, and hit a group of purple clad soldiers.

They had pushed the enemy back until their dock was in sight, when it happened.

"Gan Ning has arrived with backup for the enemy!" cried a messenger as he raced past. Na looked up to see that there were, indeed, more soldiers than there was before. She quickly dispatched the soldiers that had gathered around her, and ran over to help Sying.

"Argh! Killed by - lowly pirates!"

"Fatherrrr!"

Na whipped around to see Ling Tong stand up from Ling Cao's corpse.

"Gan Ning, I swear your head will be mine!"

"Ah!" Na gasped as she felt the cold bite of steel in her arm, and dropped one of her Wonders. She turned around, and disembowelled the soldier responsible. Touching her wound, she saw that the material around it was already sodden. She tried flexing her fingers, and bit back a groan of pain. She picked up her other weapon, and slipped it into its sheath. It didn't look like she'd be using it again, at least not in this battle.

"Na! Are you ok?" She turned to see her sibling run over to her.

"I'll be ok, it's just a cut." she said faintly. In fact, she was feeling light-headed, but she didn't want to admit it.

"You've gone really pale. Let me see it..." Na felt him take her arm, but it was from a distance. She distantly heard Sying gasp, and heard him speak, but she couldn't make out the words. She blinked slowly, then collapsed onto her stunned twin.

Sying staggered slightly as Na collapsed on him, then looked around him wildly. A couple of soldiers ran over to him.

"Lord Zhou Yu wishes for you to help Lord Ling Tong." one of them panted.

Sying blinked. What was he going to do? He needed to make sure Na was safe, but he also needed to help Ling Tong, who, he could see, was struggling against the fierce pirate. He made up his mind.

"You two, take Na Mei back to the main camp. She needs to see a medic."

The soldiers nodded, before going either side of the unconscious girl and carrying her away. Sying watched for a minute, until an arrow whistled past his nose, and brought him back to the battle. He turned to the group, of soldiers in front of him, and sent out a wave of fire, which knocked them down. He then gripped the ends of his staff, and pulled. With almost a silken sound, it came apart to reveal a long dagger that had been concealed in it.

One of the soldiers looked up to find Sying bearing down on him with a sword he hadn't had a minute ago, before slumping forwards, dead. After dispatching, and in a few cases, disembowelling, all the soldiers, he looked up to see only Ling Tong, Gan Ning, and a few soldiers left. He prepared a quick fireball, and threw it at Gan Ning.

Ning saw it just in time to block it, but it gave Tong the opening he had been looking for. He became a blur, battering Ning until a loud crack and wail of pain from the pirate indicated a broken arm. Cursing, he ducked past Tong, and ran off in the direction of his main camp. Tong was about to follow him when Sying shouted to him.

"Leave it, Tong! You need to get some of those wounds checked. I'll take over here."

Tong, panting, reluctantly nodded, and sloped off. Sying watched him go, before turning back to the task at hand.

Lu Xun looked up to the sound of shouting. There were a couple of soldiers, clad in red, supporting another red clad figure between them. Xun squinted at them against the sudden glare of the sun. Who was the figure between them? He paused as he recognised the cut of the clothes, and the glint of glossy, black hair. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to the soldiers.

Xun reached the soldiers at the same time as Sun Shang Xiang.

"What happened to her?" demanded Xun as he and Shang Xiang took Na Mei from the soldiers.

"We don't know, we arrived with a message and she was unconscious. Lord Sying Long instructed us to bring her here. She needs a medic." said the more senior soldier of the two.

"Well done for doing it so quickly. You can return to your posts now." Shang Xiang watched them run off, before turning to Xun.

"Let's get her to a medic."

Xun nodded. Shang Xiang looked at him, and noticed his expression.

"She'll be ok, don't worry."

"I know."

A/N: I know it's short, but I don't want to give away too much. What will happen to Sying? Will Na be ok? And what about Xun, seeing Na unconscious? All of this and more will be revealed when I decide to post the next chapter! AND FOR GOD'S SAKE, REVIEW!