Ch.1

It was the battle of Guan Du. Yuan Shao was sitting back and relaxing, waiting for the battle to end in victory. He was sitting in the main camp; talking and playing go with his sun, Yuan Xi. Suddenly, he heard someone arrive. He tensed up as he thought of who it might be.

'I can't have lost all ready. I know that my army is stronger than Cao Cao's is, especially with Zhang He and Zhen Ji on my side. I can't lose!' Yuan Shao thought to himself as he slowly approached the entrance to the tent. He flipped open a flap and noticed it was only one of his messengers.

"My Lord, Zhen Ji has betrayed us and has gone to serve Cao Cao. Rumor has it that Cao Cao's sun, Cao Pi, has taken her for his wife." At this being said, Yuan Xi marched out of the tent. He wouldn't let Zhen Ji go and betray him like this!

"Wait." Yuan Shao grabbed his son by the arm and calmed him. "She wasn't worthy of you anyway, all she would do is put our noble name to shame, being the slut that she is." Yuan Xi stared at his father, forlorn and intense with anger. He quickly pulled away from his father, unwilling to give Zhen Ji up to the enemy.

"I don't care father, I will get her back, just you wait and see." He retorted and took his army out to the battlefield. Yuan Shao was going to go after his son, but decided that if that is what he wanted to do, then so be it. He quickly turned back to the messenger.

"What about Zhang He? Has he betrayed us?" The messenger looked surprised that his Lord was asking him this. "Uh…no my Lord…" "Good. Send out his army to support my son. I want Yuan Xi to come back alive. Also, make sure that Zhang He protects the Wu Chao depot as well. We can't afford to lose it." He quickly shooed the messenger off to his duties and walked back inside of the tent.

"Damn you Cao Pi. I swear that I'll get my revenge on you once we get Lady Zhen Ji back." Yuan Shao swore to himself. He sat down and stared at the Go board in front of him and sighed. He hoped that his son would return…along with Zhen Ji. He knew that Zhang He would never betray him, so he didn't have to worry about him as much as Zhen Ji.

Zhang He was sitting on his horse at the Wu Chao Depot, practically sleeping. His head was lying uncomfortably upon the horse's neck. Fortunately, the horse was sleeping as well. He wasn't really in the middle of a major battle and he knew that he probably wouldn't be for a while.

The messenger tiptoed past Zhang He, with a mouse in his hand. He was going to be mean and scare him awake instead of nicely waking him up. Of coarse, the messenger didn't really care; all he had to do was tell him the news successfully. He quickly went up to the rear of the horse and let the mouse skitter between the horse's legs. The mouse was incredibly fast, but obviously couldn't control where it was heading and it accidentally hit the horse in the front leg. The horse suddenly jerked awake and reared at the sight of the dazed, fury little critter that was standing in front of it. The rearing also cause Zhang He to hit his head on the horse's neck and fall off the back of the horse.

Zhang He rubbed his head as he slowly got up from the ground and turned around to see the messenger laughing hysterically. Then, Zhang He noticed that his nose was bleeding, so he quickly put his hand up to his nose to slow the bleeding.

"Was that really necessary?" Zhang He questioned the uncontrollably laughing man in front of him. He doubted that the man could hear him, so he quickly grabbed the man by the collar.

"May I ask that you tell me your business here?" Zhang He stated harshly. The messenger looked at Zhang He, scared that he would tell Yuan Shao what he did. He quickly said his apologies, but found that he was never put down.

"Um…well, Lord Yuan Shao sent me to tell you that you had to get Lady Zhen Ji back. She defected to Wei because she fell in love with Cao Cao's sun, Cao Pi. Lord Yuan Shao also said that you had to protect the Wu Chao depot and protect his outraged son, Yuan Xi." Zhang He stared blankly at the messenger amazed at all of his duties.

"Is there anything else?" He asked, trying to grasp everything that the messenger had told him. "Umm…no. I don't believe so." The messenger quickly replied.

"All right then, now for your punishment of giving me a bloody nose." Zhang He added with a slightly amused tone. The messenger looked at He nervously, afraid of what he might do. Zhang He quickly dragged the messenger to Chungyun Qiong to let him know of the news.

"Umm…is this really necessary Zhang He?" Chungyu Qiong asked, watching Zhang He give the messenger a makeover.

"Well, he did give me a bloody nose. That isn't a beautiful thing for a man of my likes." He replied. Chungyu Qiong shrugged and waited for Zhang He to get done.

A few minutes later, the messenger was looking like a lady. "There we go…all done. You look wonderful!" Zhang He complemented his work. The messenger sweat dropped as he felt the powder and eyeliner that had been put on. "Will you let me go now?" The messenger replied with a monotone voice.

"Not until you agree to meet Yuan Shao WITH the wonderful makeup on and you must promise not to wipe it off or I will order you to be executed." Zhang He compromised. The messenger got the idea and ran off as soon as Zhang He untied him from the chair he was strapped to.

"Well, I guess I will have to go see Lord Yuan Xi. I hope that I will be able to find him out on the battlefield. Chungyu Qiong, will you look after the Wu Chao Depot for me?" Zhang He asked politely. He turned to the officer, who stood up straight and then bowed.

"I will do my best." Chungyu Qiong answered.

"Thank you. I will be off now. Tah-tah!" Zhang He waved as he settled his horse down and rode off to find Yuan Xi. Chungyu Qiong watched as the peacock general rode off on his brilliant black steed. After he was gone, Qiong let out a small sigh and returned to his post in the Wu Chao Depot.

It wasn't too long until Zhang He found Yuan Xi fighting against Cao Pi. They looked fatigued and if one of them were hit now, then he would surely die. Zhen Ji was standing near by, watching the fight between her two husbands go on. Zhang He rode up to her.

"What are you thinking Lady Zhen?" He inquired. She quickly looked up at He. Then she looked back at the fight, never responding to the question. "Again, I ask you, what are you planning on doing going with the Wei forces?" Zhang He questioned again. Again he got no answer. This forced Zhang He to get off his horse and ask her face to face.

"Lady Zhen, will you come back to Yuan Shao's side with me so that we can defeat Wei together?" Zhang He asked. This time he had gotten her attention.

"Zhang He…what are YOU thinking?" Zhen Ji replied harshly. Zhang He jerked back, slightly confused at what she was trying to say. "Do you really want to be on Mr. Noble Ass's side? I mean, look at what he does to you." Zhang He was taken aback at her rude comments…but they were true. Yuan Shao did abuse him a lot. He told Zhang He to do everything around the castle, gave him plenty of orders all at one time…but the worst truth was that Yuan Shao told Zhang He that he loved him and yet, he only wanted to use him. Zhang He couldn't stand it anymore, he didn't want to be treated that way, and he never really wanted to.

"Lady Zhen…do you mind if I joined you with Wei? I can no longer bear Yuan Shao's crudeness." Zhang He said. He had finally given in. Zhen Ji was astounded that Zhang He had all ready changed his mind. She was the only one who could've done so though, she was the only one that knew his weaknesses well enough to be able to drag him wherever she went.

"Of coarse I wouldn't mind if you joined me and Wei. I think that you would be welcomed at Wei, I mean, you do have some pretty impressive skills." Zhen Ji complemented, causing Zhang He to blush a little. Just then, the messenger reappeared…with the makeup rubbed all over his face. You could tell that he had tried to get it off, but all he did was mess it all up. Now his face was a complete disaster.

"Did you tell Lord…no, Yuan Shao of the wrongs you did?" Zhang He turned to face the officer. His eyes widened when he found the makeup smeared all over. "Do you…need help removing the makeup?" He continued. The messenger shook his head, and then they both turned to Zhen Ji who was laughing hysterically. The messenger was ticked, so he decided to try to get the makeup off again.

"That's not how you do it." Zhang He quickly got out a wash cloth and wiped the mans face off. "There. Better?" The messenger nodded his head rapidly. "Good, now you have one more mission to fulfill. Tell Yuan Shao that I have also defected to Wei. I am not going to let him treat me this way anymore." The messenger looked up at him in surprise.

"The Lord's not going to be very happy about this." The messenger told himself and then ran to tell Yuan Shao the bad news. "See? Don't you feel so much better now?" Zhen Ji comforted as she watched the messenger run off, then turned to the battle. Zhang He nodded. "Yes, I feel much better and relieved that I won't be abused and used anymore." Then, without notice, Yuan Xi flew through the air right in between Zhen Ji and Zhang He.

"This just goes to show, I'm the strongest." Cao Pi said as he walked over to Yuan Xi. Yuan Xi cowered in fear as Cao Pi rose his double-sided blade above the man's chest. "Your time ends now. I don't even see why they bother sending anyone to fight me." Cao Pi slammed his weapon into Yuan Xi's chest. Zhen Ji watched emotionless as she watched her ex-husband die.

"Well, now we won't have to deal with any more bad memories once we kill Yuan Shao." Zhen Ji turned to Zhang He as he turned to her; a forlorn look had worked its way onto his face. "Don't worry, I'll be here with you all the way." Zhang He slowly nodded as they went to Wei's main camp to let Cao Cao know that they had joined his side.

Summary for the next chapter: What will happen when Zhen Ji and Zhang He go to Cao Cao and tell him that he has new recruits? Will he accept them or will he turn them away? What will happen when Yuan Shao finds out that he not only lost Zhen Ji, but Zhang He as well? And what's the special connection between Zhen Ji and Zhang He? Well, there's only one way to find out. Watch for updates as the epic battle continues.

TO BE CONTINUED…TO BE CONTINUED…TO BE CONTINUED…