The Stranger

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Chapter 9: Oath

"I swear to you, Sun Ce, that no matter what the danger, no matter what the risk...I will help you accomplish your dream." Outside the weapons shack two young friends stood in the rain fell hard and fast against the ground. A young Zhou Yu looked up from where he had been kneeling at Sun Ce's feet and gave a smirk. "I shall see to it that your dream is accomplished Ce, and I give you my undying loyalty until my very last breath." His black hair had almost totally come out of the ponytail, and dirt had smudged across his face from the sparing match he had dominated in earlier, and he had a large gash in his white shirt from Sun Ce's practice sword, but his dark eyes shone with sincerity and Sun Ce accepted it with that laughing way he had.

Sun Ce flicked his wrist, sending a wave of fire from his torch onto the guards in front of him. Grimly, he kicked them back and sent them screaming for mercy off the side of the castle. Sun Ce ran a hand through his hair and grinned, launching himself at the fresh enemy soldiers with his Tonfa in hand. He knew that Zhou Yu would return to China with him, and now that he had received his memories back, the Little Conqueror knew that he had Zhou Yu's undying loyalty. "Damnit!" He shouted at the soldiers in front of him, "Get outta' my face! I have something that I have to do!"

xXx

"What do you mean "gone"?!" Xiao Qiao cried, grasping Sun Shang Xiang's arm as the princess of Wu tried to leave. Having just returned from an emergency trip to her fathers home, she had expected to see Zhou Yu, memories or no, but instead she returned with the court in chaos and Zhou Yu missing. Shang Xiang wrenched her hand out of her friend's grip.

"I mean just what I said. Zhou Yu disappeared almost right after you left. And he took my brother with him." Shang Xiang clenched her fist so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "And with brother gone, the court is in shambles. Quan has been raised to Temporary Lord of Wu, and already is trying to wed me to Liu Bei to make an alliance. Its almost as if they predicted that Ce would leave." The short haired brunette slammed her hand against the bed. "Damn them all." Xiao Qiao sat delicately next to her friend as Shang Xiang's shoulders began to shake. "Damn it! I want to choose my own destiny!"

"Shang Xiang..." Xiao whispered enveloping her friend in a hug. "Sometimes, even though it seems like we are just puppets, the people we love more than anything have to do things that they don't want to do, because they know that it will hurt us, but...in the long span of things...it will all work out if its supposed to." Xiao smiled, "At least, that's what Zhou Yu used to say..."

"And how would he know? He's never had to give up anything." Shang Xiang muttered bitterly into her friends shoulder. Xiao Qiao tensed, but didn't say anything in return. The princess of Wu sighed bitterly. "I'm sorry, I just want brother to come back quickly." She stood and wiped her face free of tears. She smiled at Xiao, "I'm sorry, You're probably tired from your journey. I'll leave you alone now to rest." She pulled the door open and exited. Xiao heard the door click shut and sighed, falling back against the fluffy bed.

"Zhou Yu, where are you?" She muttered to the stillness of the room. "Are you doing something dangerous again?"

xXx

Zhou Yu rolled out of the way of the oncoming pike and it embedded itself in the wood inches from his arm. Not losing his momentum he launched himself at the soldiers in front of him, cutting them to pieces. He took in a deep breath and choked, falling to his knees and coughing terribly into his hand. His breath hitched and his eyes widened as he felt sticky wetness on his hand. Taking his hand away, he stared at the blood on it in shock. The enemy soldiers, taking advantage of this, shrieked and started forward to slash him to pieces. Grasping the ancient sword, he slashed his adversaries across the chest and kept on running, his breath coming in short, quick gasps. He wiped his mouth with the back of his free hand and kicked open the door to the private quarters of Inosuke.

Anger flared in his heart as he stepped forward until he was in the middle of the wide room. "Inosuke, I have come to annihilate you for what you have done to all those innocent people that you slaughtered."

He winced at the familiar laugh that cut through the air and his eyes focused on the figure shrouded in darkness in front of him. "What a pleasant surprise...that my precious slave would do all this just to visit me. I'm honored, but your sacrifice will have been in vain. Really, is the thought of me ruling Japan so terrible?"

"This country has no room for people like you." Zhou Yu muttered quietly, though his voice still found a way to fill the whole room.

Inosuke laughed again. "Have I really done so bad a job of ruling this province? The economy is booming and war has slowly caused it to grow. I only want this for the whole country of Japan! A united front from which I can take over the whole world!"

Zhou Yu's eyes narrowed, "The world is a lot bigger than you think. If you think that an old man like you could ever accomplish such a thing you are wrong."

"Why do you think all those whore's lived in my castle? For pleasure? I think not. From them I have produced enough heirs to last me until the entire world is conquered." He grinned as the door to the old mans right opened and a woman stepped inside. "Would you like to see my oldest heir?" He gripped the woman's arm tightly and thrust her forward towards Zhou Yu.

His eyes widened in recognition as the woman who had helped him escape so long ago when he was close to death. "You!" He voice caught in his throat and he fell to his knee's again, spilling blood onto the floor. The woman averted her eyes, arms clutched around a small baby not even a toddler.

"I meant to run," The woman whispered, "But after he forced me to have this child, I couldn't." The baby started wailing and she smiled at him. "Somehow, Inosuke found out that I had helped you and..."

Zhou Yu silenced her with a hand motion and rose to his feet, dark eyes blazing with fury at Inosuke. "I'm sorry he whispered to the woman, not looking at her. He wiped the dark blood off his face and raised his sword in challenge. "I shall kill you Inosuke, I don't know how many lives you've destroyed, but I shall offer this bit of atonement to their souls...by destroying you." He charged the old man, raising the Ancient Sword to stab him.

At the last moment Inosuke raised his own weapon and blocked the legendry sword from slicing his head away. "Did you think it would be so easy?" Inosuke growled, "That poison is slowly killing you, draining your strength. You don't have much time left now, your former strength has vanished." The Lord knocked Zhou Yu back and swung at him repeatedly with his own blade as the strategist stumbled. Zhou Yu let himself fall back until his free hand touched the floor and swung his feet over his head, alighting on the floor out of the range of Inosuke's weapon.

A spasm of pain attacked his chest and made him double over, hacking blood onto his hand. Inosuke took this opportunity to slash at his opponent, grazing Zhou Yu's cheek with the tip of his sword as the younger man dodged. Inosuke slammed into the younger man so suddenly that he lost his breath. Inosuke rammed him into the wall and pinned him to the wood. Zhou Yu coughed, trying to refill his empty lungs as his back dug into the solid wall behind him.

"In what world could a weak slave like you ever defeat me?" Inosuke growled into Zhou Yu's ear, stabbing him in the shoulder with his blade. Zhou Yu cried out in dizzying pain as cold metal slid itself farther into him until it burst through the other side of his arm and attached into the wall. A sudden knocking on the locked hall door interrupted both men into looking at it. The door gave an almighty grown and fell off its hinges onto the floor.

"Damn it! Why couldn't THIS door be paper too?!" Sun Ce's shout ricocheted off the walls of the still room as all eyes stared at him. "Stupid ass door!" He stepped past it and stopped in his tracks at the sight of his best friend. "Yu!" His eyes narrowed into slits as he charged at Inosuke. "Get away from him you stupid old bastard!"

Inosuke flinched out of the way, grasping the other sword at his hip and blocking Sun Ce's charge. "Hmpf, don't insult your elders you short little boy!"

Sun Ce's forhead creased in anger, "DON'T call me short damn it!" He yelled, charging at Inosuke again. His mind clouded by anger he didn't notice the knife until it was too late. Inosuke plunged his knife into Sun Ce's abdomenand The Little Conqueror yelped in surprised hurt. A knee to the stomach made him double over from pain and fall to his knees. Inosuke slammed the hilt of his blade into Sun Ce's temple, and he toppled to the floor unconscious.

"Sun Ce!" Zhou Yu cried, clenching his teeth and pulling the sword out of his shoulder with a groan. Blood seeped down his shirt and onto the floor. The strategist could feel himself weakening from blood loss already. Never the less, he straightened up and tossed Inosuke's sword to the floor, hearing his own blood splatter against the wood. Stooping down, he picked up his own sword and pointed it at Inosuke once again. "I shall never let you go through with this plot of yours Inosuke. It's the end of the line. Your life ends here."

Inosuke smirked, "Oh really?" He looked Zhou Yu up and down. "You can barely stand. I think its time for this act of yours to end." The man flew forward with surprising agility and slammed his sword straight down towards Zhou Yu. Blocking the man's sword with his own, they fought to gain dominance over the deadlock. Blood leaked out from his shoulder wound and dripped onto the ground. His eyes widened as his shoulder suddenly gave out, and Inosuke took the upper hand, knocking Zhou Yu's sword away.

"No! Look out!" Zhou Yu heard a woman scream, and looked up right before a blinding pain enveloped him.

Sun Ce moaned, looking up blearily, just as Inosuke knocked the sword of Zhou Yu's hands and threw a knife at his best friend. Zhou Yu yelped as the metal imbedded itself into his left eye. "Yu?!" Sun Ce cried running towards his friend as the black haired strategist fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. "Zhou Yu! Dammit! Get up!" Sun Ce collapsed next to his friends fallen body, eyes wide with disbelief. "Damn it...what about your oath?!" Sun Ce balled his fists into his friends shirt. "You promised you'd help me conquer China! Yu! DAMN IT!"

TBC...

Yes I know, there was a lot of swearing in this chapter...especially the last paragraph...but come on, give him a break! I'm NOT going to tell you if zhou Yu just died or not, you'll find out in the next and final chapter. Oh yeah! My aunt had a baby on January 13th, so now I have another cousin! He was born on Orlando Blooms birthday! How...ironic...

Anyway, please review!