"You mean you knew?" Ouhon said.

"You mean you hadn't noticed?" Mouten retorted. It was clear from the Gaku ka's commander's face that he was doing his very best not to laugh.

The Hi Shin Unit had just joined them at the Qin-Zhao border, so of course, he had immediately forced Ouhon to come and have some wine with him and Shin. It had been a while since all three of them had been together, after all, and he wanted to hear his fellow commanders talk about the conquest of Choyou.

This time, however, Shin hadn't showed up alone. He wanted to introduce them to a new rival, another future great general, or so he claimed. And so, both Ouhon and Mouten had the suprise to see Kyoukai enter Mouten's tent with him, and sit down at his side. Mouten didn't mind: he was always enthusiastic at the idea of a beautiful woman in his tent. He quickly organized another cup for her.

Ouhon, however, hadn't recovered yet.

"A woman?" he added again, completely thunderstruck. He seemed unable to move beyond that simple fact. "Why did you bring a woman to the battlefield?"

At that, Kyoukai raised an eyebrow, but did not comment.

"Dude, I didn't bring her to the battlefield," Shin answered. "She came on her own. Like you and me."

He raised his cup and sipped at it.

"Seriously, you hadn't heard any of the rumors?" Mouten couldn't help but ask.

"I heard rumors," Ouhon retorted, "but I didn't believe them!"

"And you didn't notice anything when she showed up for our meetings at Choyou?" added Shin.

"There were more important things to think about!"

"Wow," Shin smiled. "I mean she was, what, a couple of feet from you?"

"I was looking at the bigger picture!" Ouhon protested.

"You mean you're even dumber than me."

Mouten could no longer help himself and started laughing hysterically. Kyoukai drank her wine, quietly observing the meaningless banter.

"How was I to know," Ouhon added icily. "With some people, you can hardly tell the difference. Look at Mouten."

"I had no idea my charms worked so well on you, Hon," Mouten replied unfazed.

It was Shin's time to laugh so hard he nearly spilt his wine. By now, everyone could see that Ouhon was deeply regretting having left his weapons outside the tent. For a second, he considered using his bare hands to break their necks.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," he said instead. "You're already so busy flirting with Shin's officers."

"Now, now," Mouten complained. "If you say it like that, people will misunderstand."

"Is there a point to this?" Kyoukai suddenly asked.

The three men, who had forgotten that she was sitting right there, practically jumped at attention.

"Hum... it's fun?" Shin ventured.

"My apologies," Mouten chuckled.

"That conversation was appalling," Ouhon added.

Kyoukai stared at them. There was something unnerving about her gaze. Like she was looking into you and giving you a mark... not a particularly high one. But Shin, at least was used to it. He slapped her in the back. The strength of it was enough to make her lose her grasp on her cup, which landed on the floor. He grabbed it and filled it with more wine before handing it back to her.

"Stop being so damn serious about everything. You said you wanted to be the greatest general under heaven," he told her. "I figured it's time you knew the competition better."

"I see," Kyoukai said.

She sipped at her wine and gave all three of them another blank look.

"I don't think I have much to worry about."