Sorry for the late update. I've been up to the ROTK TV series I foolishly spent all my Chinese New Year money on. :D

This chapter adds some more information on the child Yue Ying, referred to as Getsuei. It just sounds better O.O

I'll try to get the next chapter up; it's the climax.

Enjoy!

Birth Throes – Chapter 7 – Impediments

Zhuge Liang sneaked down the marble steps of Chengdu Castle, holding the child Yue Ying's hand.

"Who are you?" she asked, taking a great effort to step down each stair.

"Zhuge Liang."

"How do I know you?"

"Long story. Stay quiet."

"Wait, what can I call you?"

" ... Just Liang is fine."

"But that's your first name. Isn't that disrespectful?" The child held on to Zhuge Liang's robe.

"It's ok. Stay here and hidden, I want to look for something." He let go and sneaked down a few more steps, then ran up as quick as he could once he heard Lady Gan's voice.

"There's just something about Zhuge Liang I really don't like," she said to Lady Mi, who was walking along with her. "He's so cocky and ignorant ... hope someone kills him later to pay for that."

"Don't say that. He gave Liu Bei Chengdu."

"Anyone with talent like that can." Lady Gan flicked her sleeves and began to walk with her head forward, as if thinking deeply on how to humiliate the Prime Minister.

After a moment of hesitation, Lady Mi replied, "How often do you find men like the Prime Minister?"

They were just about to pass the room when they heard a child's whimper.

"What was that?" Lady Gan called out to Zhuge Liang. She held her hands behind her back. "And why isn't Yue Ying with you?"

He was standing irregularly. "That was Lady Mi."

Lady Mi scoffed and whispered to Gan, "I don't like him either."

Ignoring her sister-in-law, Lady Gan ran up and grabbed the banister, throwing herself on the other side. "What are you hiding?"

"N-Nothing!" Under Zhuge Liang's robe was a huge lump of flesh, as if he was expecting no one to see.

Faster than a blink, Lady Gan pulled his robe open, revealing a child, whimpering. She grabbed onto Zhuge Liang's leg and turned her face away from Lady Gan.

"Who is she?" Lady Gan asked.

"Your face scared her!" boomed Zhuge Liang, laughing. He fell off the stair he was currently on, his face landing in another a few steps down.

"Serves your right!" Lady Gan tried to pry the child off Zhuge Liang. "Who are you ... !" she exclaimed, grunting.

Lady Mi was the first to learn. "Gan, don't you get it? Zhuge Liang's alone ... and the child has manly strength!"

Upon realizing, Lady Gan shrieked and fell back, her head hitting the banister.

---

"You can't make me honestly believe this ... child ... is Yue Ying. It's ... unnatural."

Lady Gan, with a long bandage wrapped around her head, poked the child sitting nearby. Yue Ying, annoyed, bit her finger.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you believe, it is true." Zhuge Liang pulled the child away from Lady Gan. "Go ahead and deny. It won't matter."

Lady Mi asked, "How long will she stay a child?"

"They said a month."

Lady Gan, shaking her hand, muttered, "Who are 'they'?"

"It doesn't matter." Zhuge Liang poked the child, who seemed less annoyed at him and started laughing. "This will be good practice for me anyway; it will test me to see if I am ready enough to be a father."

"And if Yue Ying bears a son or daughter," Lady Gan began, "This practice will be good for either!"

Zhuge Liang and the child narrowed their eyes and stared at Lady Gan. Slightly scared, she sunk down on her bed, pulled the sheets over her head and said, "D-Dismiss them, Mi."

---

"Haha, I scared her and made up when she scared me with that face!" The child marched down the hall, swinging her arms extensively with each step. "Lady Gan has a creepy face; all that makeup, I mean ... when she bathes, does she lose weight?"

"That's probably true," Liang replied, taking his time walking. With his hands behind his back and his mind still wandering on how do deal with this month, he suddenly remembered, 'What is this child to eat'?

It was as if she could read his mind. "Liang, I'm hungry."

What does a child eat? Well, when it is young, it doesn't eat, per se. It drinks. Does a three-year-old child still 'drink'?

"W-What do you want?"

"I don't know," she replied, stopping. She kicked her feet back and fourth until Zhuge Liang caught up with her. "What do we have?"

" ... What would you like?"

"Candy?" she asked ecstatically.

"No. Candy's bad for your teeth."

"Aww." The child's mood dropped dramatically. "But I love candy." She twiddled her thumbs, giving a depressed appearance to Zhuge Liang.

"I forget she's spoiled in youth," he sighed. "After all, she did marry me."

"What was that?" Yue Ying asked, arching her head up to see the Prime Minister. "What does marry mean?"

His eyes widened. "Why don't ... I make you something to eat while you go and ask Lady Mi? Sound good to you?"

Yue Ying's eyes glowed as she exclaimed, "Ok!"

---

Still with her exaggerated walking, the child marched down the hall until she reached Lady Gan and Lady Mi's room, which was near Liu Bei's. There was a small doorway from their room into his, but no one really passed through it.

"Hello!" she exclaimed, jumping on the bed. Lady Gan's head hit a tray which Lady Mi was holding; luckily, the tea on top did not spill. She set it on the dresser nearby.

"Uh-oh!" she exclaimed.

Lady Gan and Lady Mi would normally torture Yue Ying in some way – making it from blackmail of the many pictures they had of her and Zhuge Liang, all the way to hanging her by her feet in the Central Market – yet they couldn't do anything to a child, for they were already used to treating children with care. Don't think this counts for Liu Chan though.

"It's alright," Lady Gan mumbled, rubbing her forehead. There were small traces of blood on the bandage on her head, but it seemed to ease. "Why are you here?"

"Liang asked me to ask you something," she said, fixing her position and lying on her stomach.

The two Ladies exchanged glances, then finally, nodded their heads.

"What does 'marry' mean?"

Lady Gan spoke before Mi could counter: "It's what happens between two people when they … have affection for each other."

"O!" exclaimed the child, pushing herself up with her arms. "So you and Lady Mi are married?"

Lady Mi, who was drinking tea, choked and spat out. Lady Gan's eyes widened and fainted.

"Maybe I have to be a little clearer," Lady Mi said, pushing the child back to a sitting position. "The two people are usually a man and a woman – but in your case, perhaps, a man and girl."

"What do you mean?" the child inquired, tilting her head.

"You and Zhuge Liang …" she began.

There was another scream, the same as the one which escaped when the dragon fell.

---

Zhuge Liang was in the kitchen, directing the cooks to make something suitable for the three-year-old child when he heard the scream.

"Getsuei!" he exclaimed, running up the stairs and into Lady Gan's and Mi's room.

"Why must you call her Getsuei?" Lady Mi wondered, setting her cup on top of the tray.

"Getsuei sounds better for the younger Yue Ying," he replied, hoisting the child up. "Now what did you or Lady Mi say that scared the young one?"

"It was what you asked her to say," snapped Lady Mi, taking over for the unconscious Lady Gan.

Zhuge Liang, clueless, inquired, "What did I ask her to say?"

"What does 'marry' mean?" the child replied, pulling Zhuge Liang's sleeve. She blinked flirtatiously, straightened her clothes and made kissing noises. "MUAH!"