Don't own Dynasty Warriors – If I did, there would be more Zhao/Yuanji scenes.

In this story, Sima Zhao and Sima Shi are going to be a little closer to Yuanji's age (since I don't know their age differences, they shall succumb to artistic liberty). So Yuanji is 7, Zhao is 8, and Shi is 11.

Puppy Love

Everything was quiet in the Wang family household. Sima Yi had only just arrived with his two sons, and the younger of the two had yet to lay eyes on the only child of the Wang family. Wang Su thanked the heavens for this and moved to lead Sima Yi to a more secluded part of the house (that wouldn't echo, in case his daughter grew too angry, Wang Su thought to himself), when a screech rang through the house, and Wang Su's shoulders slumped. It seems there was no escaping it.

Sima Yi hid his amused smile politely behind the fan he always carried with him as Wang Su turned to him and bowed deeply, asking him to forgive his daughter's actions. "It is fine," Sima Yi assured the other man. "Zhao needs to learn that other people have boundaries, after all."

Meanwhile, in the room containing all of children…

"OW! You're so mean, Yuanji!" Zhao rubbed his head and glared at the seven year old, but she just turned and leveled a glare back at him, making him flinch a little.

"And you're dumb. Now that we've stated the obvious…leave me alone!" The girl huffed angrily at him before turning away, greeting Shi with a small smile then losing interest in the boys in favor of the book in her lap.

Zhao ignored the last part of her rant and tried to steal her book. "I bet I wouldn't be so dumb if you weren't so mean!"

Yuanji's grip on her book slackened as she shot the eight year old next to her a disbelieving look. "And how does that work?"

"Well, you hitting me on the head all the time has to be doing something to me, doesn't it? What do you think, Shi?" Zhao pretended to look at his brother for confirmation, but kept his eyes locked on the book still in Yuanji's arms.

Shi smiled slightly to himself when he caught onto his brother's plan and pretended to think about the question. "That may be true, Zhao…" he trailed off carefully and, sure enough, Yuanji turned to look at him when he spoke up, disregarding his brother who used the distraction to lunge at the little blonde and rip the book away from her arms.

"HA! Got it!" Zhao held the book over his head in victory, dancing out of the way as Yuanji tried to get her book back.

"Sima Zhao! Give me back my book!" The little girl tried to reach for it, but Zhao just held it farther away, his face split in a mischievous grin.

"No way! It's what you get for hitting me!" Yuanji attempted to retrieve her book one last time, before turning around and looking at Shi. He was laughing quietly to himself, and the girl flinched back as if struck. She glanced at the two boys again, before turning away from both and sitting beside a window, looking out at the garden and silently fisting her qun.

Both boys stared at her, completely taken aback by her behavior. They were used to her yelling at them (Zhao), hitting them (Zhao), and generally being very unpleasant (to Zhao). What she was doing now was different…and mildly disturbing. The two kept staring at her as she continued to ignore them and look outside.

Eventually their fathers finished talking and were mildly concerned about how quiet the house was and set out to look for the children. What they came across somewhat surprised the two, who didn't know what to think of the scene at first.

Yuanji was still by the window, looking outside stubbornly and mouthing small thoughts to herself without making a sound. Zhao was close to distraught (well, as distraught as an eight year old can be), sitting right next to the girl and trying to get to look at him, the book he had taken from her now between them like some unusual peace offering. And Shi stood some distance from the two, noticing their fathers first and nodding to them, before returning his partially concerned gaze to the young blonde.

The two fathers took in the scene, rather confused as to what had transpired, before Sima Yi lost patience in waiting for one of his boys to explain what had happened. "What is going on here?" The man asked sharply, and was rewarded with his youngest yelping and spinning around to face him.

"Father!" Zhao cried out, looking between him and the girl that was still ignoring him. "Father, can you make her stop? I tried to apologize, but she just keeps ignoring me!"

While Zhao was pleading with his father, Yuanji took this as a chance to stand up, snatching her book with her, bow a polite greeting and farewell to the two men at the doorway, and leave to go to her room. Zhao had paused in his attempt for his father's help when he saw her move and kept his eyes locked her until she left, his eyes wide.

The room grew silent after that, before Zhao broke it again. "…She hates me!" The eight year old wailed, completely uncaring of his father's disapproval of his terrible behavior. The boy turned to his older brother and grabbed onto his robes. "What do I do, Shi? How do I make her stay with me even though she hates me?"

The eleven year thought quietly to himself over this question before looking at Zhao. "Do you care if making her stay with you is against her will?"

The younger boy thought about this for only a second. "Not at all."

"Right," Shi nodded, turning his brother's body to face their father. "Then the best thing you can do is marry her."

"Marry her?" The boy asked, looking over his shoulder at Shi, neither noticing Wang Su repeating the question as well, but with a much more horrified tone. "Why? What will that do?"

"If you marry her," Shi explained, using that tone all older siblings have that make their younger brothers and sisters believe their words no matter what, "she has to stay with you no matter how angry you make her, and no one else can take her from you, or you can kill them."

The youngest brother's face cleared up, understanding what his brother was saying. He turned to his father, and said as seriously as any eight year can, "Father, I wish to marry Wang Yuanji!"

Sima Yi was surprisingly supportive of his youngest child's decision to marry the stubborn young girl, and a contract was written up the following week despite the rather reluctant Wang Su's protests.

"This is only a puppy love, lord Wang Su," the Sima patriarch reassured, checking the contract to make certain they could dissolve it once Zhao interest in the little blonde had faded. "It will fade away eventually."

"I hope so," Wang Su muttered, looking nervous as he signed his daughter's life away to the Sima family. "I should warn you though; my daughter has been known to…kick puppies that don't know their place or act too rowdy." He chuckled a little as he said the last part, the tension in his shoulders easing a bit.

Sima Yi paused at that, before smirking. "You're talking about that arrogant Zhuge boy, are you not? Zhuge Dan, I believe?" He snickered quietly before looking at the man. "Do not worry; if this puppy acts up, she's more than welcome to kick him into place."

Notes:

A qun is a type of wrap around skirt worn often by women in China during the Han Era.

I thought this would be a cute little fic. It does a lot of little references, like how Zhao likes to bug her to get her attention, and how her giving him the cold shoulder really bothers him. And that, everyone, is how they got engaged (not really, of course; I wish I knew more about the historical Sima Zhao and Wang Yuanji).

I don't know if this is how real children act, sorry. My sense of age and maturity level is really messed up.

Hope you guys liked it.

Please review.

Ja ne!