Welcome to Gaia! ::

===Zhou Tai===

Zhou Tai veiwed the city with silent solace. Two consecutive attacks had done its toll on the city. Many buildings lay in rubble, and it seemed nothing was damaged in some way. The ground was soaked in the blood of both Japanese and Chinese. Soldiers, wounded or not, wandered the city helping where they could. They were fatigued, that was obvious.

"I don't think this city could hold out against another attack," Tai commented to Zhou Yu.

"I don't either, Zhou Tai, we'll just have to see that very thing does not happen." he finished speaking to Tai and looked ahead to see the Great Guan Yu and fair Xing Cai in front of him. "Ah, Guan Yu, a pleasure to see you again. In such trying circumstances though, I grieve for your fallen. And Lady Xing Cai, it's an honor to see your beauty in person, for I have only heard of you before. Thank you for welcoming us into your city, we only seek to help. We truly aprreciate your hospitality." he finished, waiting for either to say something back.

Xing Cai nodded and bowed to the to Wu officers, thinking about their words for a few moments. She turned her head to listen to what her uncle had to say and also thought about those. Cai didn't know anything about these men. She hadn't even known that they been there. She'd been busy fighting with Date nearly the entire battle. Her eye brows formed together for a second as she thought about him, wondering if he was alright and what had happened to him.

'He is the enemy....' Xing Cai thought to herself quietly, turning her head to look back at the other two men. '...So why must I be filled with such compassion and grief for him? This heart of mine... at times it feels too small, and that I don't give enough to the others around me. That I have to try harder. And yet, at other times, I cannot help but stop and think about the enemies in battle. The way that so many of them have died. Lost their lives, battling for their own personal cause. We all want the same thing. So why must we quarrel like so? All of our ideas are so different, yet they ultimately lead up to the same thing. But still, we must fight. Is my heart too big, or too small? Is it too open? So many questions.'

Cai turned her head away to look down the street, watching as a few children ran around playing some kind of a game she'd never seen before. Despite herself she smiled, unable to hold it back. These children... all of the children of Shu. They were the future. They were the life. They were the innocence behind the blood and war.

"Please pardon me," Xing Cai removed her eyes from the children and gave the two men a polite bow. "I'm afraid that I must go now. There are some affairs that I must attend to myself. And... thank you so much for coming to help us. We need all of the aid that we can get. May the heavens bless you as they have blessed us with your coming here."

She gave them one last smile and then turned away, walking down the street as strait as she could. Cai would be sure not to let the weakness of her wounds show. Her father would do so, and so she would as well! With this in mind she approached the children playing and tilted her head, then bent down and sat on one of her ankles. She set her fork down and held her hand out to the children, and asked: "Would mind if I joined you?" They paused and looked over at her for a moment, then looked at each other, and finally held out the ball that they were playing with to her. She stood up and then dropped the ball, kicking it with her foot a few times before tossing it back at them. The children all laughed and started running after it, Cai's soft brown eyes watching them. She was too slow to help with rebuilding for now, so she would watch after the children. The children weren't shy or afraid of being around her. They hadn't seen the true horror of war yet, though they had seen some of it. Cai would be certain to retain and protect this innocence. It was her duty now. Everyone else was always looking out at the battlefield and protecting the stone walls. She would be looking out over the battlefield and the stones walls as well. But now... she would be certain that these children knew that they were protected. Someone to protect their innocence for as long as they could.

Xing Cai knew well that she was still in the view of her uncle and the two officers and wasn't quite sure if they approved, but she would stay, nevertheless. She could move her pride aside for the sake of the children.

"Hurry, pass it to me!" Cai yelled out, now fully joining the children with her shield and weapon set off to the side. It was painful to move, indeed, but she could bare through it.

Guan Yu nodded as he heard Zhou Yu's words, "So he is the new fighter for Wu. I am sure he will prove useful in the future. We here at Shu should look into gaining some foreign fighters also as a source of information. We really don't know anything about the enemy at all. But then again, you can never be too careful about inviting someone from the enemy's land to join your army." He paused for a moment as he looked over at Xing Cai as she played with the children. A smile crept across his face before turning back to Zhou Yu. "Yes, an alliance is indeed necessary. In any case we would gladly accept your help with restoration, Master Zhou Yu, but what needs to be done can't be done in a short amount of time. Our gate is damaged and that will take some time to repair. The fires have been put out and the dead have been cleaned up, so I really don't see what we would have you do without keeping you from your brother and your troops for too long."

"We shall help, Wu needs a base of operation in your land, if this could be it we would be very appreciative of your genoristy. For now, however, the thing we strive for is diselimination of this invading force. It threathens us, it threatens you, hell, it evens threathens Cao Cao & Wei. We shall see how they fail, but they are much less agreeable then Wu and Shu can be with each other. Anything we can do to earn our keep, so to speak, we will gladly perform. These people do need help, and while we understand that Shu has done a tremendous job helping them, we can lend our help as well." Zhou Yu shifted in his saddle staring into the distance beyond the rubble surrounding them. Things would be peaceful again, that was a fact, but, when?

Gan Ning was there, just not seen by Xing Cai. Was what he heard correct, did Xing Cai really care where he was and his health? He'd never felt this before, a throbbing in his heart. What could it be? He felt truly....appreciated, something he hadn't really felt before, like he belonged in Shu, to enforce peace throughout the land and settle down from his pirating ways. But he couldn't give that up easily. It would take something immense. Ning stepped out of the shadows directly into Cai's line of vision and gave a cheeky smile, waving at her.

"I know you have, I'm so sorry to have worried you. Gah, pretty stupid of me, ya? It'll never happen again, I assure you." his smile didn't fade, it just goofily stayed plastered on his face, it seemed contagious too, since she was smiling too. He'd never meant so much, usually it was just: Kill someone, drink, have intercourse with random women, never really get noticed before by a kingdom. But he felt, welcome here. "Me...injured? Not in a billion years." he chuckled loudly at such a notion, letting his confidence always be known. "And you aren't either, but I had no doubt in my mind that you wouldn't. You're a tough customer, stronger than most men I used to battle with." Ning's off-kilter way of complimenting a fighter reared itself again. "Wu? I used to be rather close to their territory, maybe they won't remember me very well. Oh, the necklace, no problemo. I wanted to give it to you because you are my friend, my ally. I want you to walk away from every battle, alive and well. You are the person that really genuinely welcomed me into this kingdom, and for that, you have my utmost gratitude and friendship. Oh, and no more bowing!" he finished with a jolt, angry to always be bowed at, "I'm not your superior, I'm not your leader. I'm not saying showing reverance is wrong, but to me? I think it is wrong to do that to me. Let's show respect someway different." he smiled, softly grabbing the sides of her shoulders and tilting her head back up to meet his, out of a bow. "We're buds, I'm not your Lord."

Gan Ning noticed her slightly blushing, or at the very least, turning a lighter shade of her already paler than usual skin color. "I'm glad you like that, we're both in this together. I don't want you dying, you don't want me dying, we'll watch each other's backs. Be a team." he said, with a serious meaning behind those words, all his joking mannerisms put to the side. A personality Ning didn't often exhibit: seriousness. "I'd like to work on such a thing. And, yes, for now a handshake will very well suffice." his face lit up at the idea as he (as soft as he was able) grasped her hand back and shoke it swiftly but gently. Harder than it should've been, for a strong gruff guy and all, shaking a petite girl's hand. The sensation reared itself again in his stomach, what was it he was feeling? Could it be....nah, it couldn't be that. He'd only known her for the shortest of times, but, maybe it was. Although, he'd never even felt that feeling around other women, the ones that he casually interloped with after battle's to calm himself down. Yet, they were merely garden-variety whores, this Xing Cai, had a grace unlike them. She kept herself, unlike them. Her appearance gave an air of gentleness and petiteness, not unlike a heavenly angel or fairy. Gan Ning had never felt this confused in his life, oh well, he could only benefit from it, he hoped.

"I'm glad it does. I want to be your bestest friend." he said, now in a joking tone as he enunciated 'bestest'. "Aww, don't get all emotional on me, Cai." he chuckled with a sly grin. "Truthfully, that is awful sweet of you to say that. I'm glad to have found you too." Gan Ning looked around with her, surveying the damage to the town, "Ai, it'll be tough, but we can bring relief and aid to these people, you and me, Cai. We can make their live's a little brighter, give them food, water, shelter. I'd really like that. But for now, I wonder if we should do just that: try to locate people in need or ward off burgulars looking to get possesions during the chaos after this attack." Ning lowered his head, somewhat bowing for the fallen people from the battle. "Homesick? Hmm, I can't even think about that word I guess. My father was a pirate, he was killed before I was even born, on a raid. The town police got a clue and completely sniffed the raid he was in. My mother, she was taken away shortly after giving birth to me, so I raised myself as best I could. That's how I learned to fight, probably, having to catch my own food and home, I guess." Ning's expression's seemed sad, most likely, but he was actually happy to have been dealt this tough card, he thought it improved him as a straggler, a fighter. "But I think I understand, and I don't think it's childish. You are not childish, you are a very beautiful young woman that is strong like her father in every way: emotionally, physically, and mentally." he hoped his words would help calm her nerves a little. But after blurting out his life story it might make her feel pity for him, and he didn't really want or need pity from anyone, even if it was such a sweet person like her.