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Musashi had made his way west, hoping to find a new place to rest. Eventually he came upon another city with the same Shu banner posted up on the walls. "Hmm... must be the same force." He said as he approached the gate. As he came closer to the city a massive red horse came charging out at a decent pace. Riding atop the horse was a man of massive proportions with a weapon to suit his stature. Upon looking at his weapon Musashi noticed the crescent shaped blade and suddenly remembered the look of the wounds on the Japanese soldiers. "That could be the weapon..." He muttered as the man approached. He raised his hand and called out, "Excuse me!" to the rider on the red horse, hoping to speak with the warrior. A man like this could end up being quite the challenge... thought Musashi as he waited for a response.

Just as he was about to head off for battle a strange looking man called out to Lu Bu as he rode by. Normally he would have kept going, but something about this man was... different. The Red Hare reared up to a halt and turned around to approach the outspoken man. Bu gazed down at Musashi with a cocked brow and realized by looking at his clothes and how strange he sounded when he called out to him that he was most definitely not Chinese. Bu stared down and said, "Make it quick, I'm off to battle. Or is it that you would like to fight me?" The last remark was more of a joke than a serious offer.

((I know what you mean.))

Lu Bu hopped off of his horse and stared the man in the eye. He wasn't that much taller than Musashi, impressive considering that most of the soldiers he had fought were rather short. He looked at him trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "Just who the hell do you think you are? Do you know who I am? I am Lu Bu, the Dragon of War!"

Lu Bu shook his head as he took hold of his Sky Scorcher. "Whatever, I'll take you on if you really want to be beaten down." Who the hell is this guy? He asked himself as he prepared for an attack.

Lu Bu kept his eyes on Musashi, watching his movements. This man was a martial artist, the definition of one if he had ever seen one. Amazingly different from anyone he had ever fought before. It suddenly hit him how much fun this would be! Musashi came at him with the sun behind him, but for some reason Lu Bu was slightly disoriented. The sun was in his eyes! He quickly realised that Musashi was attacking and quickly blocked the blow with the shaft of his weapon, then pushed the swords back up and brought the crescent blade in horizontally toward Musashi's right arm.

((Okay, I am too.))

Surprised at how nimble this man was, Lu Bu decided to step up his own performance. He jumped up to avoid the leg attack and even turned to his right in mid-air, doing a complete three sixty. As he landed he came down in a crouch and struck out at Musashi's hip. Musashi was in too close for this to be a lethal attack so he would merely get hit with the shaft of the weapon, however with the momentum behind the attack it would definitely do some damage if it connected.

Da had a bright smile on her face while they walked down the hall, and she took the opportunity to look around the parts of the castle that they passed. Too bad she couldn't stay out here longer- but, she was happy to have a bed. She stepped in after Ce, listening as he closed the door behind them. He walked past her and sat on the bed, and for a few seconds he just stared at the floor. For a second Da was terrified, thinking that there was something physically wrong, but as soon as he looked up at her she calmed down. Then he started talking- about the alliance with Lord Liu Bei and Lord Cao Cao. She tilted her head at him while listening to his thoughts with her face set to show that she was carefully thinking about his words. Once he finished she walked over and sat down next to him, looking over at him with her soft, gentle brown eyes.

"It helps me too to know that Liu Bei is such a good man and helping us- but... I agree with you on Cao Cao. I... I hate to judge people, but I...." She looked down at her lap and sighed, frowning with her brow put together. "He just seems so... cruel sometimes." She sighed lightly and turned her head to look back up at him. "The best that we can do is trust him, but we also have to be careful." She stated after a few moments of thought. "It's like... when you make a new friend. You have to trust them but you also have to be careful because you don't know them yet." It was a sort of childish example, but, it was still true. Da smiled at him and laid her head against his shoulder, wrapping her slender arms around his muscular one.

"Besides, we can take anything down together." Da told him a loving voice, adoring being there next to him. She wished that she could show him how much she loved him, but she didn't think that that was even remotely possible. "You should lay down now, Ce. You need some rest. We should take this opportunity to relax a little bit while we can."

Liu Bei smiled at his brother at his comment about staying proper and chuckled to himself, stroking his small goatee. But then his brother's mood changed incredibly fast- not something that was unrare. Listening to his brother's trouble Bei laid a hand on his brother's shoulder and smiled lightly. "She'll be back soon, brother. Xing Cai is a very strong girl. She has your strength inside of her." He too hoped dearly that his niece was unharmed. There was some things that experience simply couldn't cover for, and she didn't have very much. Just from what she'd gained from the practice fights she'd had. He wished that he could have sent her to a less serious battle and let her gain experience more appropriately, but it hadn't been so.... He could just pray to the heavens that she would come back with nothing missing.

"Besides, with Gan Ning and Guan Yu being there, I'm absolutely certain that she's safe."

Just as these words came out a messenger came in and once he had permission began to speak. "Lord Liu Bei, the second defense of Xia Pi was a success!"

"Wonderful." Bei beamed, smiling and then asked: "How have our officers faired?"

"I received no words of any deaths." He answered, glancing nervously over at Fei before continuing. "I also heard rumor that those who were Japanese also fought on our side."

'...Those of Japanese decent?' Bei thought to himself curiously, lifting an eyebrow at this. 'More allies for our cause... what a blessing!'

"Come brother, let us go and await for more news." With this Bei stood up, hoping to brighten Fei's spirits. As Bei walked he spotted a peasant girl sitting in his waiting room. He blinked in surprise, shocked to see her there. "Pardon me... but what are you doing inside of the palace? Is there something wrong?"

{{Xiao is still wearing her peasant disguise. xP}}

Lu Bu barely evaded the first attack by bending backwards, allowing his armor to parry the two-bladed attack. As he stood back up he swung his weapon horizontally toward his left before realising that Musashi was attacking again. His crescent blade clashed with one sword and the other cut into the Dragon of War's armor. Luckily it was a rather thick chest plate, but that didn't stop Musashi's blade from drawing a small amount of blood. He would have been killed were it not for his armor. The attack went through and the Musashi's free sword met with Bu's spear and his other blade. From here Lu Bu simply forced his weapon forward, aiming to strike Musashi in the forehead with the crescent blade. He actually got me! No one has ever come this close before... He thought as he made his attack.