Here Beside Me

Looking for Love

The ground they had covered by the next morning was already quite a bit. Y/n admired the countryside that she could only remember from her childhood before being locked away in her village.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a heavy sigh from next to her. She looked over and saw Mu looking down at his lap.

"What's the face?" she prodded.

He looked up, trying to hide it. "What face?"

"That face," she giggled.

"There's no face," he argued. "This is my face. That's all."

"You know I know you better then that."

He sighed again, looking upward. "I realize our duty is to the mission..."

"But...?"

"But I have another duty," he finished, looking at her desperately. "To my heart."

"Oh, Mu..."

Shang, next to them, cut in while pulling over, "Your only duty is to the emperor."

His head turned the other way. "But Shang," he tried to argue. "An arranged marriage?"

"I know," he said, finally looking at him sympathetically. "But not everyone can be as lucky as you are. In an ideal world, everyone would marry for love. But the world is perfect."

Y/n reached Mu's hand, deciding, "I'm just glad my would is," making him smile back at her with love.

-

"...and so, I said, 'You broke my next set of china!' Get it? CHINA?!" Ling broke out in laughter next to Yao, who was looking off in a blissful daydream with Chien Po riding along them on a horse, giving him a pity laugh.

"Did you see the way she looked at me?" Yao asked almost sing-songy.

"You mean with disgust?" Ling asked and began to laugh again with Chien Po, this ketch genuine.

"No!" He punched him so that he almost fell off the seat.

"Ow."

"Our eyes met and we shared a cosmic moment."

"Oh, just like when I look at a potted pig's knuckles," Chien Po connected seriously, but Ling took it as another joke and began to laugh again, interrupted by an angry Yao.

"It's love, I tell you!" He stood up, declaring it to the world, then sat back down with that daydreamy look in his eyes. "Love..."

"Love, shmove!" Ling elbowed him roughly, continuing before Yao could punch him back. "It doesn't matter. We're on a mission. No fraternizing with the princesses."

"Engaged to be married princesses," Chien Po added, leaning in. [Seriously, WHAT THE NECK DO?!]

"Oh, yeah..." He put his head in his hand sadly, trying to remind himself it was for China and that Mei would be happier with a lord's son, anyway.

-

Su looked out the window at the countryside in excitement. "Wow! China is so big! Isn't it beautiful, Mei?" she turned to her sister, who was busy looking through the slot that led to the soldiers. "Mei?"

She looked back, slightly startled. "Oh, yes. Beautiful," she agreed, shutting the slot, then asked gently with a hint of excitement, "Did you see the way he looked at me?"

"Who? The gorilla with the bad eye?" Ting-Ting asked bluntly.

"Gorilla?" she asked, a bit horrified, but relented as she grabbed a pillow and held it close to her chest. "He's more like a big, cuddly panda bear."