Short story of why I took forever...
LAST WEEK:
Me: Okay now before I log off my computer I should upload my new chappy to FF. :D
Dad: Okay, you guys are all grounded from all electronics!
Me: HOLYCRAPNO. WHYYYYY? D:
Dad: No one's doing their damn chores! *has a point*
Me: Can I just post-
Dad: NO.
Me: But I have to-
Dad: NO. Shut it down.
Me: *withers away to nothingness from lack of laptop*

Anyway, that is why it took me almost two weeks. But, it's up now, so enjoy! :D

REAL LIFE:

Feng Lan:

Wake up. Make Breakfast. Get dressed. Live through another day at the university while trying to find Zhuo-gege.

Easy to-do list, right? Apparently not as easy as I had thought. I had caught a glimpse of Zhuo-gege a few times, but had been unable to apprehend him and talk to him. This cycle went on for a few days. It wasn't until right before Gui's lecture a week later that I had a chance to capture him. As I was walking down the hallways with Yang Ming I saw him exiting a room about ten yards away from me. I was going to be late for the class, but I had more important things than literature to take care of at that moment. Forgive me, Gui!

"Zhuo-gege!" I shouted at him, running as quickly as I could towards him. He looked up with a deer-in-the-headlights expression and dashed away as soon as he saw that it was me barreling towards him. "No way you're getting away this easily!" I shouted after him as he turned a corner. Though I wasn't a fast runner, I was determined. I turned the corner sharply and, barely dodging another student who was staring at Zhuo-gege's retreating figure with confusion, tackled him with a giant pounce, my momentum knocking him to the ground.

"Stop running!" I exclaimed as I sat on top of him, short on breath.

Yang Ming:
"Zhuo-gege!"

What the hell? I really hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings until my sister suddenly yelled Ling Bin's name and dashed off, her battle aura nearly blinding. I stared after her as she chased Ling Bin around a corner and sighed. Guess she was skipping class today. Professor Min probably wasn't going to be too happy.

"Really," I huffed, "And she thinks that I'm the freak."

Gui:
Ever since our date, which had ended so regrettably, Xiao Lan had been a little… distant. Sure, she'd saved me from getting sliced into cubes by Wicked, but we really hadn't made much contact afterwards. I tried to catch her after class and talk to her in-game, but it was getting very obvious.

She was avoiding me.

Today I was going to confront her. I needed to find out what was up. Was she having second thoughts about me? What about her feelings towards Ling Bin? Was she regretting going out with me?

Students slowly made their way into the room and I watched as Yang Ming walked in alone. Odd. Maybe she was with Yun and Jing? No.

Xaio Lan was… absent?

I was about ready to pull my hair out.

Zhuo Ling Bin:

"Stop running!"

"That won't be a problem with you sitting on me," I grumbled. I really wasn't expecting her to come at me with a flying leap and introduce my face to the floor tiles. "Can I get up now?"

"No."

I sighed, she was so stubborn. "Can I at least roll over so I can see you?" She stood up, letting me turn so I was on my back and then sat back down on my stomach.

"Now, where have you been? You haven't been logging on to Second Life, you haven't been walking home with Yang Ming and me, and I haven't even seen you properly since I gave you a thrashing in-game!" She looked ferocious. Her nose was flared and her eyebrows were knitted together. "Tell me, Zhuo Ling Bin, what do I always call you?" She said each word slowly, emphasizing my name.

"Huh?" I was confused. Where had that last question come from? "You call me Zhuo-gege," I answered hesitantly.

"Exactly! Gege! Older brother! You're like a brother to me, okay? And as my older brother, we're family. And as my family, you can't get rid of me. You're stuck with me, gege!" Xiao Lan looked at me, her eyes pleading. "No matter how obnoxious family is, we're stuck together forever! Isn't that enough?" Her voice cracked and a tear ran down her cheek as she stared at me with a puppy dog eyes.

I sat up, Xiao Lan in my lap, and embraced her. She buried her face in my shirt and sniffled. "If that is really what you feel, then that's alright, Xiao Lan. But, as your big brother, I reserve the right to whoop Gui's little ass into the next century if he does anything to you."

Xiao Lan laughed and wiped her eyes. "If anything happens, you hold that right."

"Then," I started ruffling her hair, "If Xiao Lan wants me to be her big brother, I'll be her big brother." We both may date other people and have fights, but I will always think of you as my first and only love.

IN GAME:
Prince:

"Priiinnnncccee!"

"Oof!"I stumbled back as I was attacked by Gui with a violent hug upon entering Infinite Castle. He grabbed onto my arms and looked me right in the eye; his eyes were watering and his lip trembling. "Gui, please don't cry!" I said in alarm, my eyes darting around to try and find what was upsetting him.

"I can't help it!" Gui moaned, burying his face into my shoulder and sniffling pitifully "His highness is avoiding meeeee!" Gui broke out into violent sobs and tightened his grip on my arms, his wails of sorrow filling the entrance hall. I saw Lolidragon on the other side of the room snickering at me with Doll, who looked like she wanted to comfort the sobbing heap that was hanging on me. I gave Lolidragon a glare before remembering that I needed to ask her how the Wicked situation was. He was already online, which I discovered with a quick check at the interface.

I squirmed out of Gui's grip and ran over to Lolidragon, trading places with Doll who now stood over Gui. Gui kept his eyes on me as I approached Lolidragon, whimpering like a scorned puppy. "I'll tell you everything later, Gui! Promise!" I called back to him, watching as Doll patted his head and offered him a cookie from her pocket.

"How's Wicked?" I asked, guessing that he'd been scolded (not nearly as harshly as I had been, annoyingly) and put to work the second he logged on.

"He's fine, same as usual, I suppose. You smoothed everything out, then?" Lolidragon inquired.

"Um… With Wicked, yes… But, I guess I kind of neglected Gui while doing so." I looked back at Gui who was nibbling on his cookie in a corner. Doll was still trying to comfort him, but his heavy aura was overpowering.

"You might want to fix that…" Lolidragon suggested. I sighed and nodded. "Anyway, I just got a PM from YuLian, I need to go see her." She waved to me as she made her exit and I turned to Gui who was still sulking next to Doll.

"Come with me, Gui," I huffed. Gui instantly perked up and bounded over to me, smiling like crazy.

"Of course, Highness, I will follow you anywhere!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed him by the hand, dragging him off.

Doll:

"Doll doesn't think you should laugh at Gui-gege like that, Lolidragon!"

Lolidragon was just barely keeping herself from bursting into laughter, but she couldn't help snickering as Gui sobbed into Prince's armor. I looked over at poor Gui-gege, Prince never gave him enough attention. Even if Prince didn't love Gui back, Prince could still be a little nicer.

As soon as Prince left Gui to go over to Lolidragon I ran over to Gui, patting him on the head and trying to say comforting things. I felt in my pocket for the cookie I'd saved from lunch and handed it to him. He accepted without much thought and started to nibble at it while still curled up on the ground.

"Don't be sad, Gui-gege. Prince doesn't hate you; he's not avoiding you anymore than usual." Wrong thing to say, apparently. Gui's eyes watered up all over again and tears spilled over his cheeks. I rubbed his back and sat down next to him. Poor Gui-gege.

"Come with me, Gui."

"See, he's not avoiding—"

I didn't get to finish before Gui had already popped up and darted to Prince's side, tears long forgotten. So was my cookie, which he had tossed aside in his hurry. I crossed my arms. How dare he throw away my cookie like that!

After they had left I stood up and brushed myself off. Looking down I saw that Gui had forgotten his guqin on the floor. I picked it up and figured that I should return it to him.

It took a while for me to locate Gui. I looked around at his usual spots before assuming that he must have still been with Prince. Prince was almost always in his chambers, so that was where I would look.

"Can Doll come in?" I asked in my best cute voice, poking my head into Prince's bedroom. Then, I saw them.

They were… kissing? My jaw dropped and I stared wide-eyed at them. They broke apart, Gui looking annoyed at my interruption and Prince blushing so hard that he we as red as a tomato.

"Doll just came to return this!" I said hurriedly, shoving the guqin at Gui and booking it out of Prince's chambers.

Gui:

"So, you were avoiding me because of Wicked?" I asked Prince after he had explained everything.

"Yeah, I just didn't think it would be a good idea to be around you so much when I was trying to talk to him. You understand, right?" Prince looked genuinely sorry and I knew he was telling me the truth.

"Of course I do. Just… tell me next time. Don't play with my poor heart like that!" I looked away, remembering the hurt that I had gotten after not being able to be around Xiao Lan or Prince.

"I'm sorry," Prince said and looked at his feet. "I really do want to be with you, though. It wasn't like I was avoiding you because I didn't like you."

"Prince, just… Just don't forget that I love you, okay?" Discovering that Prince had been avoiding me both in and out of the game had nearly given me a heart attack. I hadn't been able to teach or function properly with that weighing on me. As long as Prince knew that I really loved him, it would be okay, right?

Prince, who had been sitting on his bed until now, stood up and crossed over to me. "If I kissed you now, as a dude, would it be weird?"

"Depends," I said, "are you going to kiss me as Xiao Lan?"

"Of course," Prince said with a smile, wrapping his arms around my neck and bringing his face close to mine. I held his waist and out lips met for the second time. We held each other blissfully, lips interlocked, for a few seconds before we heard a voice.

"Can Doll come in?"

We untangled our arms and separated in a flash. You didn't lock the door? I asked through a PM.

I… Forgot… Prince's face was tomato red, which was adorable, but I was annoyed at being interrupted again. Was a proper kiss too much to ask from this world?

"Doll just came to return this!" Doll threw my guqin at me and ran off like the wind. Prince and I just stood in stunned silence for a minute before he spoke again.

"Maybe… I should just tell them that I'm a girl. I mean, you and Lolidragon already know." Prince's face was scrunched up in thought as he said this. "So no one thinks about this the wrong way."

"Lolidragon knows?" I asked, appalled.

"And Jing, and Yun, and Zhuo-gege, and…" Prince counted on his fingers the people who already knew his secret. I groaned. Why did everyone else seem to know before me?

"On the other hand, we could just skip the whole female thing and say you assaulted me," Prince added, looking like she was honestly thinking about it.

"No way! I did not assault you!"

I know I keep saying "Just a few more chapters, like one or two!" but I've decided I honestly have no idea when this will end. This will come back to bite me in the butt, but I don't think this will take much longer to wrap up... maybe... _

Love,
~Ninja