Disclamer: I'm too lazy to copy/paste my regular disclaimer. Or correctly spell disclaimer. :P Just read.

Author's Note: I have nothing to say.

Ling Tong looked scared. "DO WHAT HE SAYS! DO WHAT HE-- wait a minute. I'm no friggen damsel in distress! KILL ME LIKE YA MEAN IT, PIRATE!"

I glared at him. "Tong, SHUT UP. Gan Ning, I don't care what you do, just don't hurt him!"

"Great. Now I've got a princess rescuing me." Ling Tong said. "I hope my dad isn't laughing at me up in the afterlife."

What an ass. "On second thought, do what you want. I don't care." I turned to leave, and, as expected, Ling Tong started whining. "Nooo! I was joking! Don't let this pirate hurt me! He'll kill me, then he'll rape my corpse!"

Gan Ning looked revolted at the thought. "For your information, little boy, I only rape wome-- err, I'm still virgin!" he corrected himself, glancing over at me.

Assholes. Men are ASSHOLES. I whipped my chakrams out from behind my back, and said, "Alright pirate, if you want to kill Ling Tong, you gotta get through ME to do it!"

Gan Ning looked at me. "What the hell are you talking about, girlfriend? I'm ALREADY right next to him."

I looked annoyed. "Don't ruin my moment. I mean, FIGHT ME, THEN KILL LING TONG!"

"No!" Ling Tong whined. "Fight her, then lose so I can be free!"

"Right!" I said.

"Wrong!" Gan Ning said. "Gan Ning never loses a fight!"

"Right! I mean, wrong!" Ling Tong said.

"OH SHUT UP!" I screamed. "FIGHT ME, OR LET TONG GO!"

(AN: I accidently spelled "Tong" as "Thong"...)

Gan Ning chortled. "Oh, please. So now the little Princess is trying to be tough. Babe, if you want a fight, you're out of luck, since I don't fight girls. We've gone through this alr--- arrgh!"

I had had enough, so I attacked. With my chakrams. It was a direct hit, I noticed, as I felt the side of the chakram thump the pirate on his head.

"AAAAARGH!" he screamed, rubbing his head. "DON'T... MESS... WITH... THE... HAIR!" Didn't take long for him to make an instant recovery, and he grabbed his sword and swung at me. I blocked his attack, the loud noise of metal hitting metal piercing our ears.

Clang-clang-CLANG! Our weapons continued to ricochet against the other, causing a lot of noise. I wasn't giving up; I was (unfortunately) fighting for Ling Tong as much as I was fighting for myself.

I swung at him at the exact time he swung at me; and the weapons's impacts knocked us both backward, me falling on my leg. "Ow!" I yelled angrily, feeling my leg crack.

"SHANG XIANG!" Ling Tong screamed, looking scared.

"I'm... I'm fine!" I yelled, stumbling up to my feet. "Ow! You're gonna pay for that!" I said angrily, ready to fight again.

Finally I made another hit, causing a gash to appear across Gan Ning's muscular arm. This time it was bad; blood was gushing down his arm and I could see muscle through the cut.

"Ow! You stupid nasty little..." Gan Ning snarled angrily.

I was in for it. "Serves you right, you creep!" I yelled angrily, taking a step closer to Ling Tong (in case Gan Ning tried anything funny, I'd throw Ling Tong at him and run) but instead, he threw his head back and laughed.

"Yeah? Serves me right for what? The only thing I recall doing to you was kissing you... and you sure liked it when it happened!" Gan Ning said, smirking at me.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Ling Tong screamed, horrified. "Shang Xiang, you did WHAT?"

"I, uh... well, let's get one thing straight! HE kissed ME!" I screamed.

"Same difference," Ling Tong said, sounding revolted and hurt at the same time. "I can't believe you! You pounded me in the eye when I tried to kiss you!"

"I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD!" I screamed. "But enough about THAT! As for YOU," I said, rearing on Gan Ning, "In case you haven't NOTICED, my leg is kind of BROKEN!"

"It's not broken! Quit being a wimp!" Gan Ning said, now trying to quell the blood flow dripping from his arm.

"No, seriously, it's not broken," Ling Tong said, glancing at my leg.

"Oh, WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAYS?" I said, turning around to yell at Ling Tong again.

"Apparently, MINE!" Gan Ning snapped.

"I most certainly am NOT on YOUR side! Don't kid yourself!" Ling Tong shrieked.

"That does it, this is tiring... I'm ending this!" I said angrily.

"Oh please. You couldn't take me, princess, not in a hundred years," Gan Ning said with a sneer. "Once again, you're no match for me. When is it gonna sink in?"

"That does it. Shang Xiang, stand down. You're hurt," Ling Tong said, scrambling up to his feet, a difficult task indeed since he was tied up. "I'LL take over here! Since no pirate stands a chance for a man whose father has been killed! HRAH!"

"Oh no. I am terrified. God help me, the widdle boy's going to try and kill me," Gan Ning said, breaking out into laughter. Ass.

"What're you going to do all tied up?" I asked, ignoring Gan Ning's hysterical laughter.

"Shang Xiang, don't ruin my moment..." Ling Tong muttered. He hopped over towards Gan Ning, (an unbelievable task) and glared at him. "If you're done picking on innocent girls, maybe you wouldn't mind facing me instead! I'll rip you apart!"

Gan Ning rolled his eyes. "Oh please, bondage boy. What the hell are you going to do tied up like that?"

Ling Tong looked annoyed. "I don't know. I didn't think I'd make it this far."

"Well, let me help you out there. I could do THIS-" Gan Ning swung a fist at Ling Tong, who yelped and hopped out of the way. "Or THIS-" Gan Ning swung again, Ling Tong yelped and hopped away- "Or, THIS!" Gan Ning yelled, and tried to push Ling Tong over.

"Geez! Watch it!" Ling Tong whined, hopping about. "HEY! I got it!" Without further comment, I watched as he hopped over to Gan Ning and stomped on his foot.

"OW! That hurt, you little asshole!" Gan Ning said angrily, hopping up and down.

"Yeah it did! Hah! In your ugly face! BOOYAH!" Ling Tong hopped around in a victory circle and faced me. "See, look at me, Shang Xiang! I can fight all tied up! Whaddaya think of THAT?"

I had to admit, I was impressed. "Good job, Tong," I said, smiling at him. "But I--" I noticed Gan Ning sneaking up behind Ling Tong, but he was too busy hopping around to notice. "TONG, GET OUTTA THE WAY!" I screamed.

"Huh?" Ling Tong asked, looking at me. "What're you-- ARRRRRRRRRRGHHHH!" he yelled, as Gan Ning kicked him and sent him sprawling... on top of ME.

Do you know how uncomfortable it is to have an ass 2 inches away from your face? Well, I do. It's not pleasant.

"Well, this is awkward," Ling Tong said, rolling over some so I could regain the ability to breathe.

"Easy for you to say," I muttered. "YOU didn't have an ass in your face."

"HEY! Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Tong said angrily, watching (but not being able do anything, of course) as Gan Ning mounted his horse.

"I am out of here. I'm sick of you crazy Wu people!" Gan Ning said angrily.

"Ha. WIMPY WIMPY WIM- Ow!" Ling Tong whined, when the rock Gan Ning chucked at him bounced off his forehead.

"Ow! That hurt, you fcking asshole!" Ling Tong wailed.

"Oh, shut up!" Gan Ning said, kicking his horse so he could get away faster.

"That hurt... but at least he's gone," Ling Tong said. "Next time I see him, he's dead meat! I swear!"

I groaned a little. "Ugh... Tong, for the hundredth time, get off me!"

"Then untie me already! It's not too easy to move like this!" he complained.

"Alright, scoot over a bit..." I sat up and frantically untied the bonds around Ling Tong's wrists. "Geez... this has gotta be the hardest triple-knot I've ever had to get out of anything..." I muttered. "There we go!"

"Sweet freedom," Ling Tong said, rubbing his wrists. "Ouch."

I hadn't noticed how close we were until we both looked up and yelped a little, scooting backward some. "Uh..."

"Sorry," Ling Tong said, scooting away. "Shang Xiang, you know... you do know how pretty I think you are, right?"

I blushed. "I...uh... nobody ever calls me pretty," I said, wishing my face wasn't turning pink.

"Well, you are. I know how random that was, I just thought you might want to know..." Ling Tong said, avoiding eye contact.

"What was THAT?" I said, changing the subject and trying to look terrified. I was a bad liar.

"I didn't hear anything..."

"AHHHHHHHH! HOW CAN YOU NOT HEAR THAT?" I screamed, trying to get up and falling over due to my leg.

"Well, even if there is something I'm still tied together!" Ling Tong wailed, freaking out in the face of adversity as usual. "Help me out!"

I grabbed a piece of the rope and pulled it, and strangely enough, the rope came untied. "That idiot pirate tied it like a shoelace!" I said, grabbing Ling Tong's hand and pulling him up.

"Why didn't I notice that?" Tong wondered.

"Who cares. Let's go already, Quan's probably worried sick about what happened to us..." I said, standing up and toppling over.

Ling Tong caught me and helped me stand up. "Yeah... probably wondering what happened to my father, too..." he said bitterly.

Since his arm was already around my waist to steady me, I wrapped one of my arms around Tong's shoulder to cheer him up some. "Tong, it'll be alright..." I said, smiling at him. "I lost both my brother and my dad... it's rough, but it gets better after some time. I promise."

I shuddered a little remembering the day my father died. In fact, Tong had been there for me that day, hugging me and trying to cheer me up. I owed him now more than ever; to make him feel a little less bad I wrapped my other arm around his chest and hugged him. "C'mon... let's head back to the camp. Everything'll be better in the morning."

"Alright... you need help walking?" Tong asked, grabbing my hand to help keep my arm on his shoulder, (and for other reasons, but I wasn't bringing that up.) "Come on... let's just get back to the camp," I said, exhausted.

"OK."

Chapter done. The next chapter will wrap up the Battle at Xia Kou. :D And tell me what you want to see next!