A Question of Birth.
By Strych9
Disclaimer: I do not own the dynasty warriors characters. I admit it. So if you want to try and sue me for this farce, go ahead and waste your money.
A/n: I was rather surprised to find out that someone actually read this. I was just going to leave it as a one shot, even though the second chapter's been kicking morosely around my story folder since about two days after I posted the first one. Thank you Chibi Deku Jester, for the review and for a VERY entertaining mental image. Thanks also to Kracken l.w. for beta reading this, even if you did express a desire to do me bodily harm. (It was kind of a mess and I sent it to her at 3am. ;)
The entire Court held its collective breath as they waited for the summoned general and the explosion that would shortly ensue. The Son of Heaven, pacing on his dais, let a teeny little smile wander across his face at what he was about to reveal. On the one hand, it was a relief to know that the grumbling over who got those lands to the south was finally moot. On the other hand, Tai was going to blow up like a mountain storm when the new emperor revealed his secret. The sound of boots in the hall outside caused the tension in the court to deepen, something the patriarch of the Sun clan hadn't thought possible, and he began to wonder if doing this in public was such a good idea. Then he looked at his daughter's distraught face and hardened his resolve to have this out with the former pirate once and for all. Just in time, too; no sooner had he made up his mind than two hundred odd pounds of muscle, metal, and meanness marched through the throne room door, proceeded along the most excruciatingly correct path to the throne, and dropped into a perfectly measured and executed obeisance to his emperor.
How on earth could I have missed it for so long…"You call me, and I answer to your command, great one." The deep, gravelly voice broke his self recriminations like a soap bubble. It was time to get this confrontation over with. "General Zhou Tai, guardian of Prince Sun Quan, second heir to the Tiger throne, you are a loyal subject, yes?" He studied the man as he waited for a reply. Tall, unusually so, but only to expected from a family that kept such… odd… allies. Other than his somewhat unusual height, he was pure Chinese. Unless Qin was mistaken about what he'd seen, but no, the resemblance was there, if you only knew what to look for behind the scarred cheek and oft broken nose. It was visible especially around the eyes. "My sword, my service, and my life are yours, lord, as always." Listening closely for an almost vanished accent, Sun Jian's eyes narrowed as he not only heard what he'd only half expected, but saw a hint of the other evidence he'd been warned about. The one piece of evidence that would confirm Tai's true identity beyond all doubt, and that Tai had been known to kill people to hide. He signaled quickly to Huang Guy and Taishi Ci who collared the armored menace and tipped his head farther forward, thus revealing the whole of the crossed katanas that formed the bottom of a very famous, or, rather, infamous, family tattoo.
"So you say, General Zhou; and yet you hide something from me. Information that is important to the very survival of this new dynasty! Remove your helm!" Tai, eyes as cold as the edge of his sword, slowly reached up and removed his helmet. "As my commander wishes." The voice had changed, the words were even more clipped, the diction sharper than ever, and that tiny accent, the one that was a dead giveaway to his origins, could now be heard clearly by all in the room. None of the older lords batted so much as an eyelash, but the feeling of tension radiating off of them tripled three fold. They knew know, saw the prize slipping away… Sun Jian, Tiger of Jiang Dong, the Son of Heaven himself, swept the lose tail in which the concealing hair was always kept aside. There on Zhou Tai's neck was one of the mot feared family emblems in china. The White Tiger, crushing a viper in its fangs, over crossed katanas. The Seal of the Chai clan. Whose cruelty and blood lust was only matched by their cunning and their martial skill, and whose bloodline was supposed to have died out at the beginning of the yellow turban rebellion. So much for that rumor.
Reviews would be welcome. They also give me more motivation to continue than the hit count since I rarely check that. Just something for you to keep in mind.