The Stranger
Thanks for all the reviews! I'm sorry if the time skipping and the obvious lack of a time frame bothers anyone, but honestly, this story is kind of Au, I think I mentioned it, but if I didn't, I'm very sorry. I've edited the bottom of this chapter, so now it's a bit better. Sorry for the trouble!
Chapter four: Corruption
Five years later...
Jiang Ye
Sun Ce is a jerk.
Sun Shang Xiang decided, tying the bandage a little tighter around her brothers calf, eliciting a string of profanity from the man sitting lopsided on the throne. "Shang Xiang! Come on, knock it off! It's tight enough!" Sun Ce howled over is shoulder as she worked on his wound. In response, she tightened it even more.
Her slender fingers made quick work, tying the bandage so that Sun Ce couldn't loosen it. Then she drew back her arm and punched him, making him yelp with surprise. "Shut up Ce! If you hadn't been fooling around in front of enemy archer, you wouldn't have been wounded! Just think! If you would have just let me come with you, I might have been able to help but no! Mister idiot has to go and almost kill himself!"
Sun Ce almost felt the steam blowing through his ears, "Don't call me that!"
Sun Shang Xiang almost smiled as Sun Ce overturned the tea tray with his ecstatic movements. "Call you what? Mister idiot?" Shang Xiang smiled as her taunt effectively angered her brother into throwing the tea kettle at her head, which she dodged, hearing it crash a few feet behind her.
"Am I interrupting something?" Lu Xun stepped forward, surveying his disgruntled lord and his lord's sister with his golden eyes. He held a large scroll, which was torn and worn from use. Sun Ce shifted his feet to the floor, weight on one hip and favoring his injured leg.
"No your not, miss prissy was just leaving." Sun Shang Xiang shot a glare at her brother.
As she passed by Lu Xun, he heard the unmistakable sound of 'idiot,' then the young strategist flinched to the right as Sun Ce tossed the tea tray after her.
A few moments of awkward silence passed before Lu Xun stepped up and handed Sun Ce the scroll. "What's this?" Sun Ce scowled, unrolling the canvas. Lu Xun resisted the urge to roll his eyes, a habit he gained from Zhou Yu long ago and never quite forgot.
"It's the battle update, sir." Sun Ce groaned at the mention of it and glanced at it with hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion. "But sir, the front lines have been low on moral ever since you got wounded in the battle. May I suggest something?" Sun Ce grunted his permission as his amber eyes raced up and down the scroll. Lu Xun took a deep breath and muttered something very fast. Sun Ce looked up at the strategist with a bemused expression.
"Run that by me again?"
"I suggest that we update with either Cao Cao or Liu Bei, by wedding Lady Sun to one of them." Sun Ce dropped the scroll to the floor and fixed a harsh glare on Lu Xun's timid face.
"Never." Lu Xun felt his breath catch in his throat.
"But my lord, if we don't align with one of them, Wu will perish!"
"I will never ally myself with Cao Cao!" Sun Ce shouted, making Lu Xun stumble back a little. "I'd rather ally myself with a pig!"
"Then wed Lady Sun to Liu Bei my lord!" Lu Xun pressed, hands tightening into fists.
"Why?" Sun Ce huffed. "Why should I when Liu Bei has nothing?"
"He commands the respect of many Sir, and he has many extremely talented officers under him."
"I don't care! Why should we fear Cao Cao?"
Lu Xun took an exasperated breath to calm himself down, "Because he has a vast army and he has targeted us!"
"We can beat Cao Cao any day! I wont yield to that man!"
"If you don't ally with Liu Bei, Wu will die, and so will your dream of uniting China!" Lu Xun said before he could stop himself.
Sun Ce scowled, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. "Zhou Yu would never have let this happen."
Lu Xun scowled, "With all due respect, sir, Zhou Yu is not with us any longer to make that decision! And if he were alive," Lu Xun hissed, "I doubt he would do something foolish like you want to do!" Lu Xun turned on his heel in a cloud of anger and made for the door, slamming it behind him, making a dumbfounded Sun Ce flinch as the noise vibrated around the room. After a moment he groaned, and let his head fall back against the arm of the chair.
"What the hell is wrong with me lately!"
Japan, Shogun fortress
The chains around his wrists and ankles stung as they tore at his flesh. The iron collar around his neck pained him every time he moved his head. His back was scarred with the markings of many whippings, and a long white scar on his abdomen symbolized his initiation into the cruel slavery. Zhou Yu flinched as the whip cracked, slashing across his already bloody back like hellfire. Lord Inosuke smiled at the small break on the handsome man's iron mask, and dropped the whip.
He took hold of Zhou Yu's hair, and the dark haired man instantly started struggling, thrashing with his arms and legs. Inosuke smirked and looked Zhou Yu in the eye. "You are my slave, so if you want to keep your pathetic existence, I suggest that you stop." Zhou Yu spat blood at him, and the old man tossed him to the ground, standing over him with a sickening grin as he wiped his face.
"Hold him down!" He growled at the men in the room, and they hurried to comply. Inosuke then took hold of the hot brand and kicked Zhou Yu over onto his back. "I paid good money for you, slave, and I would never want your talent and beauty to go to waste." The man thrust the hot iron into Zhou Yu's chest, right above his heart. Screams tore from Zhou Yu's wounded throat like a caged bird released into the wild.
Inosuke scowled with disappointment when Zhou Yu's delicious whimpers came to an end, and he nudged the handsome mans face with his foot. Then, with a sickening grin, he took a vial of a black substance from his desk drawer. He knelt beside his slave and poured the liquid into a needle. He stuck it into Zhou Yu's chest, right in the middle of the brand, and emptied its contents into him. "Throw him in the whore's chamber's. He'll be worth more money to me there I think."
The brothel girls screamed with fright as the body was tossed into their room. However, as the door slammed shut, one of the women came forward, kneeling at his side. "This man need's help!" She stemmed the bleeding from his wound with her kimono sleeve. "Quick! Get water!"
xXx
Zhou Yu moaned as he came too, a few days later. His eyes blinked open, and he shuddered with pain. "Where...where am I?" bandages covered his torso, and a great burning pain was covering him in waves.
"Inosuke's brothel. He must have beat you bad, you were out for three days." The world spun around Zhou Yu as he sat up. His vision was blurry and his hearing was weak. "What's wrong with me?" He managed to get to choke out of his swollen mouth.
"Inosuke poisoned you, right in the middle of that brand. You're arteries are still black around it." The woman sighed. "He put you in this brothel, probably because he wants to fuck you, alright? Don't look at me like that, he's done it before. My question is, why did he hurt you so much?" Zhou Yu noticed that the woman was wearing her obi backwards, so that the knot was in the front.
"Are you a prostitute?" She swung her long hair around to her back and smiled.
"You are avoiding my question, but yes, I am."
He managed to stand up despite the pain he felt, "Why are you kind to me? Men only hurt you."
The woman smiled and placed a gentle hand under his chin, then she leaned in and kissed him. "You have an innocence about you, and yet, there's something mysterious as well. Do you know who you were born as?" As the stunned Yu shook his head, she smiled bitterly. "You movements suggest that." She ran a gentle hand over the bandages on his chest, gently tracing the brand marks. "The brand will never go away." Zhou Yu grabbed her hands to stop her.
"What is the brand of?"
"You are a master of avoiding the question I asked earlier," but she smiled slightly, pulling off the bandage. She scrutinized it for a moment. "It says 'Houshi' or star. He must have taken a great liking to you." she re-attached the bandage. "Now, answer my question."
"Can I trust you?"
"Did I not just care for you and dress your wounds? If I wanted you dead I would have used my suntetsu on you long ago." Zhou Yu took a breath and considered her a moment before answering.
"I overheard his plans to kill Empress Himiko." The woman gave an noise of recognition.
"Yes, I have heard his idiotic whispers to kill us all. He's a crazy old man." The woman poured herself some tea. Then she looked up at the handsome man with a coy smirk. "Can I interest you in some play? It looks like you haven't done so for ages, it would be my pleasure to give a man more beautiful than I such pleasure."
Zhou Yu made a noise in his throat that sounded like he couldn't quite get his words out. "No, I'm afraid I must decline, please forgive me." The woman scoffed her disappointment.
"There's a door to the right that leads to the roof. Escape that way, and find a way to kill this man, before he kills you himself." Zhou Yu nodded and made for the said exit, determined to get away. Then he turned and bowed to the woman.
"I will, thank-you for your kindness. I will never forget it."
"Just go." The woman watched as he slipped out the door into the night. Zhou Yu snuck out the small door to the roof. Balancing carefully, he ran across the brothel roof and leapt to the ground. His body shuddered as he impacted the ground, but his managed to get his pain filled feet to move. A day later, he knocked on the door to Hanako's home.
"Yu-san!" Hanako cried, running and catching the man before the fell to the ground in weariness. A lot had changed for her. She was now the keeper of the estate, as Lord Yamato and his wife had disappeared a few years after Yu was taken. Hanako was a mother now, and a wife. She had two twins, and her husband worked for Himiko. He was an expert on the Chinese language. "I thought I'd never see you again!" Yu smiled, before a wave of pain made it fade.
"Doctor..." He managed to slip out, before he fainted, right there in the arms of his sworn sister and friend.
xXx
"This poison comes from China. If you want to save yourself from pain, you have to go there." the doctor said, binding Zhou Yu's bandages across the man's chest. "You must be in the Lord's bad graces.
Zhou Yu clenched his fists, "I am going to kill Inosuke, he will not let this country suffer to his every whim, I'll make sure of it." His brown eyes blazed with fury and determination.
The doctor sighed, seeing that his patient was serious. "Then you'll need a powerful weapon. I've heard tell of a sword in China that can cut through anything. It's called the Ancient's Sword, in the land called Wu. If you want to kill Inosuke, I would get that weapon." Zhou Yu massaged his newly freed wrists, a plan slowly coming to light in Zhou Yu's mind.
"I take that to heart. Thank you doctor," He murmured destractedly.
TBC...
I shall try updating every weekend if possible. Thank you so much for reading and I hoped you liked this somewhat gory chapter. Please review if you can!