Lovely Blossoms

Gui Ren stared at Fen Hua as she slept. It was just under three weeks since Mei Xiu died. The pain of it was j as fresh as if it happened an hour ago. He looked down at Fen Hua, she couldn't be more then seventeen or eighteen years old, but she had been his strength after Mei Xiu left. There was nothing s.e.x.u.a.l in their relationship, it was a mutual need for someone, anyone.

Every since Gui Ren was a child, he had struggled. His mother died at an early age leaving him a slave in the household she belonged to. He didn't know who his father was, but the rumors were the head of the family, a man near his eighties, had taken his mother one night. It didn't matter if that old man was his father or not in the end, He was a slave and treated as such.

His eyes flickered to the tiny hands that belonged to Fen Hua. Mei Xiu's had been bigger. He used to tease her about her hands when he was younger. As the two grew up together those hands had become a beautiful masterpiece to him. A small smile covered his lips as he thought of her. What was he going to do without her? He felt the choking sadness began to swallow him again. His head pressed against the bars of the cage.

Fen Hua who was sleeping with her head on his shoulder felt his body stiffen. He had his eyes clenched shut, and his jaw set in a tight grimace. He was fighting back the tears, fighting back the pain. She had seen this many times and always felt her own heart fill with pain at the sight of it.

She reached out her hand and grabbed his. The feel of her touch slowly began to sooth him back into the present.

"I miss her," he said in a hoarse voice.

"I know," she said leaning against his shoulder again. She didn't know if she was bu hoped she gave him at least a little comfort.

A few hot tears slid down his cheek. He wiped them away with the back of his hand then patted Fen Hua on the top of her head. She looked up at him, her chin wresting on his shoulder. Her big brown eyes were filled with concern and it touched him. A little crevice in his heart opened. There, Fen Hua was placed inside. There wasn't much room left in him to care about someone, but what was left, he allowed her to own.

"Stop staring at me, your giving me the creeps," he said nudging her with his side. He watched her with a mischievous grin.

.She could see that he would never be whole again, but he would make it. She nudged him back.

"If anyone is giving anyone the creeps, it's you," she teased back. They hadn't had an interaction like this yet and she hoped she wasn't pushing it.

He let out laugh, somehow hollow and hopeful at the same time.

Fen Hua leaned against the bar of the cage, a feeling of warmth covering her. She hadn't realized how hard it was to watch someone else suffer until now.

Fei Ling stretched out his legs he had been watching the interaction between Fen Hua and Gui Ren. Maybe it was a bit of jealousy, or maybe he really just wanted to be closer to her. He felt a tingle rush through him when it grazed Fen Hua's. He'd been moving a little closer to her over the weeks. Every day, unintentionally just a little closer. He found himself watching her in a way he could no longer ignore. His heart would race anytime she turned towards him. He had been with women before, but he had never felt a feeling like this.

He felt himself smile as he watched her. He hated Gui Ren with a passion but seeing her smile as she was....he wanted to see her smile like this all the time. At first his interest in her had been because of that woman, but as time went on, she became something more. She was kind and gentle, but she was also strong and courageous when it came to something she cared about. She kept surprising him. Just as she had that night with the blanket, the way she had stood up to him for Gui Ren. Maybe that was when the feeling changed from interest to something deeper and undeniable. Maybe it really didn't matter when just that it was.

He made a promise to himself. When he finished him mission, when everything had been righted. He would come back for her and she would never suffer another moment of her life. But he also knew there was nothing he could do about it until then. He had to remain a "slave" until he could find what he needed. If that never happened, then he would never get a chance to come back for her, but as much as he wanted, she couldn't be his only priority when so many lives were at stake.

He bit the worries and weight of everything he was expected to do down. He didn't want to think about it now. There were only a few days, a week at most, until they reached the Neutral Territory. He wanted to spend that time watching her and giving into a part of him that he had never realized was missing.

Fen Hua pulled her leg away from Fei Ling. She was becoming more and more unsettled by him. She would often feel like he was watching her, but when she turned towards him, he would either glare at her or tell her to "move" , or "get up", or some other order. She did her best to avoid him, but it was hard to do that when you were trapped in a cage and being carted off for months at a time.

She noticed a strange smirk on his lips when she turned to him. Her eyes met his. There was a flash of something inside of them, quickly replaced by that hostility that she had become used to.

"Move over, it's crowded," he said in a rough voice.

She gave him a dirty look and scooted closer to Gui Ren. 'Worthless sack of dog crap' she grumbled to herself.

Fei Ling turned from her, hoping that she hadn't seen the blush that had begun to bloom the moment her eyes met his.