Author's Note: I'm back! My computer is experiencing some difficulty with a malware (stupid Antispyware Soft), so I might not update a lot. So you guys better enjoy this one!

Chapter Thirteen: Kunai Means "I Love You" in Xingese

Much to Lanfan's relief, Ling let her resume her duties as guard, leaving her very disgruntled mother to plan the wedding colors on her own.

"So…." Ling began, dipping a pinky in his tea. They had returned to the tea shop, where just a day ago Ling had challenged Sou to a duel. Sou's expert alkahestry had gotten the best of Ling, much to his discontent. "What's up with this Sou guy?"

Lanfan smiled. "He's quite smart. His touch is so sensitive he can read the text of thick ink on paper."

Ling scowled yet again. Lanfan bit her lip. When he was like this, he looked so much like his father, the emperor. "Do you love him?"

Lanfan suddenly became very interested in a little ant, which was skittering across the floorboard. It was using a twig as a bridge across the cracks. Finally, she turned to look at her master. "I don't know. I know he does not love me, though. He's nice enough. He tells me that he'll always be faithful, because that's what good husbands do."

Ling swallowed, thinking again of the many concubines he'd have as emperor. If it came to it, he'd at least make sure to remember all of their names.

Lanfan continued. "But, he seems to be very infatuated with one of your half-sisters, a princess of course. Ming Na, I think her name is. He tutors her. He says she has a beautiful singing voice, the most beautiful he's ever heard."

Ling froze, studying his companion. She didn't look jealous. Her pale face was the epitome of stoic, with just a hint of melancholy around her dark eyes. Being Ling, he stated the obvious. "You look sad."

Lanfan shrugged, playing with the hem of her skirt. Even though her mother had let her resume working, she had insisted that her daughter wear her feminine clothing. There were about six kunai strapped to her legs, in addition to the compact smoke bombs she'd hidden in her bosom and the poison needles that held her hair partially up. "It's nothing, Young Master. Just thinking. I will have to spend the rest of my life with a man that doesn't love me. I'm even two years his senior. My mother says that it's an honor that we are allying with a scholarly clan like the Li. But she's just being generous. In honesty, Sou was probably the only suitor that would take me, because of my coarse personality and disability."

Ling wrapped an arm around her, making her turn a bright shade of pink. "You are far too hard on yourself. Men are merely intimidated by you. But once they get to know you, they discover your shyness, your beauty…." He laughed. "That Sou is a lucky man."

Lanfan's breathing hitched. No one except her mother had called her beautiful before. She folded her hands in her lap, struggling to keep the tears in. These days she'd spent with her mother had softened her, weakened her. "Do you really mean that, Young Master?" Her voice was just a decibel above a whisper.

He nodded, grinning like a child. "If I could choose any girl in Xing, no, any girl in the world to be my wife, I'd choose you. Because I know that you'd keep me in line."

"You can't possibly mean that…."

Before Ling could offer another wholehearted reply, Lanfan stood up to leave.

"I'm sorry Young Master, but I must retire early. Please forgive my incompetence."

Her sandals clacked against the floorboards as she fled the shop. She took exceptional care not to step on the ant.

Lanfan sprinted the entire way to the guard's quarters. She would've been proud of her new personal record if she hadn't been so emotionally confused.

Her mother was washing dishes in the kitchen. She wiped her partially-calloused hands on a rag, turning to her daughter.

"What's wrong, dear?" Lanfan froze. Her mother looked so much like her. She suddenly imagined herself, clad in a similar apron, doing chores in the kitchen. Then Ling would come up and wrap his arms around her from behind, teasing her about how she was doing her own chores even though she was the imperial empress. Then things got… exciting.

Lanfan mentally slapped herself yet again. Physically, she put her hand to her cheek, practically feeling the self-imposed stinging.

"Nothing, Mother," she responded automatically. She would often say it out of impulse when she was caught sneaking dessert before dinner, or in her mother's bedroom trying on her jewelry. "I'd just like to be alone."

Lanfan's mother nodded, plunging her hands into the soapy water again. Most in the Yao's guard clan were loners-by-heart, not initiating or continuing conversation unless necessary.

Lanfan strode into the courtyard, warding off her cousins with a piercing glare. She sat next to the fountain, which was laden with dropped kunai.

Before she could get situated, another sharp blade whizzed past her head. She caught it before it could slice through the placid water. It had an all-too familiar tag attached, swooping calligraphy bleeding through the paper. She held the paper up to the light to see the writing.

"Love."

Lanfan turned towards the source of the kunai, the west wall. She felt a discreet disappointment when it was Sou who dropped out of the cherry blossom tree.

"I thought it'd make you feel better," he said, crossing the plaza and plopping down next to her on the bench.

"How did you find me?" She tucked the kunai away, kissing the tag before sliding it into a spare holster around her ankle.

"I could smell your sweet cherry blossom aroma from the other side of town." When he could feel her incredulous stare, he added, "I also sensed your chi. It's out of control right now!"

She shrugged. "I've been having an… odd day."

He nodded, his hair bobbing comically. The tresses had collected a few twigs from the tree, the sun-kissed leaves poking out. Lanfan brushed the foliage away absentmindedly. He reached up, letting his hand touch hers. "I really am trying, you know."

She let her slender hand linger. "Do you think about Ming Na a lot?"

He smiled, but the small gesture was tragic in itself. "All the time. But I'm willing to be with you, if it makes you happy."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I really don't want any of this."

He nodded again, but it wasn't half as comical. "I understand. I cannot be with the one I love, and the one I am with does not love me. This is how you feel, yes?"

She shrugged. "I don't know how I feel."

He grinned, and her spirits brightened immediately. "That's what makes love so fantastic! It makes your stomach twist and writhe, in a good way! You feel confused and happy but also scared and it's absolutely wonderful!"

Lanfan couldn't help but chuckle at her fiancé. Many of the Li elders thought that Sou was unfit to be heir because of his carefree and wistful demeanor, but she loved it.

He paused in his ramblings. placing a hand on Lanfan's shoulder. She shivered. His fingers were so close to the stump where her arm had once been. "You think about him a lot too, the prince."

She quirked an eyebrow in return, even though he could not see it. "I must think about the Young Master. I am his guard."

He laughed. "That's how it starts. I used to think my daydreams of Ming were simply because she was my student and I spent a lot of time with her. But then it escalates. Did you already have a fantasy of your married life?"

She coughed. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

He rolled his unseeing eyes. "Sure you don't." He traipsed over to the sundial near the fountain, squinting a bit. Lanfan wondered how he could possibly read it that way. "Look at the time! I should go, before the servants think I drowned in the bathtub or something. But they're probably just being overprotective. What kind of lunatic would drown in a bathtub!"

Lanfan smiled, smothering a laugh in her long sleeve.

Sou suddenly rushed up to her, brushing his lips across hers. "Just know that love is all you need."

And in a flash of light and smoke, the Li heir was gone.

Ling watched his guard, stone-faced. He was perched on a rooftop, a couple of blocks over from the guard's quarters. The prince suppressed a shout when Lanfan kissed her betrothed. He sighed.

"Well, if she's happy, I shouldn't be a spoiled brat and ruin her love life."

A gust of wind rushed through the village, and in a snap, Ling was gone as well.

Author's Note: I was sort of debating whether or not to have the kunai to come from Sou or Ling... I hope I made the right choice. You guys will find more about the clan competition in the next chapter, so stay tuned, and please review!